Following up on our previous update about clearing the way for Williamson County (WilCo) scraping, we’ve officially moved into the next phase.
WilCo mugshots are now actively being posted on TexArrest.
📸 Williamson County Mugshots: Now Live
With the Tyler Technologies-based scraping method finalized, TexArrest has begun posting Williamson County arrest records that include mugshots, starting from:
🗓 January 1, 2025
Any WilCo arrest from that date forward that includes a publicly available mugshot is eligible to appear on TexArrest as it’s discovered and processed.
This marks a major step forward in expanding TexArrest beyond Travis and Collin County.
⚠️ The Main Challenge: No Full Roster or Master Arrest Feed
One obstacle unique to Williamson County is that WilCo does not provide a complete public jail roster or a single, browsable arrest list.
Instead, their system requires searches to be performed by name.
What That Means Technically
- There is no “show all inmates” endpoint
- No chronological arrest feed to crawl
- Records must be discovered via surname-based searches
To work around this, TexArrest is currently using an automated approach that searches:
- Common surnames
- Wildcard-based name queries
- Incremental surname lists to discover new arrests
This allows us to locate arrests that would otherwise require thousands of manual searches.
🧠 Improving Coverage: Surnames, Wildcards & Automation
Right now, development is focused on expanding and optimizing this approach:
- Building larger and smarter surname datasets
- Using wildcards to increase discovery efficiency
- Reducing redundant queries
- Increasing scrape coverage while respecting system limits
The goal is to maximize the number of WilCo arrests discovered per scrape cycle, while keeping the process stable and automated.
This is actively being tuned and improved.
🤖 TexBot Development (In Parallel)
While WilCo scraping continues, development is also underway on TexBot — an internal automation system designed to:
- Handle surname-based discovery more intelligently
- Schedule and balance scrape workloads
- Reduce manual intervention
- Speed up dataset expansion across counties with similar limitations
Importantly:
👉 Scraping and posting WilCo mugshots is continuing while TexBot is being developed.
Progress on one does not block the other.
🔄 Current Status
- ✅ WilCo scraper finalized (Tyler Technologies system)
- ✅ Mugshots now posting for WilCo arrests
- 📆 Coverage starting January 1, 2025
- 🔄 Surname + wildcard automation actively expanding
- 🤖 TexBot in development to improve discovery efficiency
🚀 What’s Next
- Expand surname datasets to increase WilCo coverage
- Continue posting WilCo mugshots as they’re discovered
- Improve automation and reduce scrape time
- Apply these methods to other counties with similar limitations
- Move closer to unified, statewide arrest visibility
Williamson County is a major proving ground for TexArrest’s automation strategy, and progress here directly accelerates expansion across Texas.
More updates coming soon.