SpaceX's Starbase just made it official - the company town is outsourcing law enforcement entirely to Cameron County. Two sweeping agreements signed in September establish county deputies as the city's de facto police force while routing all arrests to county jails, creating an instant criminal justice system for Elon Musk's rocket manufacturing hub.
SpaceX's company town experiment just took a decisive turn toward practicality over independence. Starbase, the South Texas city that exists primarily to launch Starship rockets, has formalized what's been happening informally for months - letting Cameron County handle all the messy business of law enforcement.
The two interlocal agreements, effective Wednesday, are surprisingly comprehensive for a city that barely existed a year ago. Under the first deal, Cameron County commits eight deputies to Starbase, though only two patrol during any single shift. The second agreement tackles the backend - jail services at $100 per day per inmate, plus reimbursements for medical care and psychiatric services.
It's essentially plug-and-play policing for a company town that needed a criminal justice system yesterday. The arrangement isn't unique in Texas, where small municipalities regularly contract county services rather than build their own departments. But Starbase isn't your typical Texas town.
The city incorporations happened less than a year ago, after SpaceX systematically bought up properties in the old Boca Chica Village and expanded its rocket operations across the area. Most residents work for the company, and the entire municipal structure revolves around one goal: getting Starship flying frequently.
That focus shows in the contract details. The law enforcement agreement includes provisions for "special events" - code for rocket launches, when thousands of spectators descend on the small beach community to watch Starship's spectacular test flights. During these events, Starbase can pay for additional security beyond the standard patrol coverage.
The special events clause reveals the shrewd calculation behind this arrangement. Rather than maintaining a full police force year-round, Starbase can scale up security precisely when it needs it most - during launches that draw massive crowds to an otherwise quiet stretch of Texas coast.
But the deal also highlights the limits of SpaceX's company town model. While Starbase has its own mayor and city commissioners, public safety remains firmly in county hands. Body camera footage, police records, and accountability measures all stay with Cameron County. If residents have issues with local policing, they'll be taking it up with their next-door neighbors in the county system, not their employer-backed city government.
