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Search the EFF Atlas of Surveillance for your city, county, state, or police agency, then confirm any lead with current local government records or the agency itself. The Atlas is a useful discovery tool, not a live inventory: an entry may be outdated, and no result does not prove that local police lack cameras or access to someone else’s system.
What to look for: cameras and access to data
Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) use high-speed cameras to capture vehicle plate images and turn them into searchable vehicle-location data stored in centralized databases, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). To understand whether police in your area use the technology, check more than whether the local department owns cameras. An agency may operate its own equipment, subscribe to a vendor-hosted service, or search data collected by another agency.
How to verify local ALPR use
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Search the EFF Atlas of Surveillance
Open the Atlas of Surveillance, search by city, county, state, law-enforcement agency, or vendor, and filter for “Automated License Plate Readers.” The Atlas compiles open-source reporting and datasets from public and nonprofit sources about law-enforcement technology in U.S. communities. Open any matching entry and follow its links to the underlying records or reporting; treat the entry as a lead, not proof of current deployment.
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Check official local documents
Search the police or sheriff’s website, city or county procurement portal, council agendas and minutes, budget documents, and any annual surveillance-technology reports. Try the terms “automated license plate reader,” “ALPR,” “license plate recognition,” “Flock Safety,” and the agency’s name. Look for dated contracts, amendments, purchase orders, policies or special orders, camera counts, deployment maps, retention rules, data-sharing provisions, and audits.
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For example, Boston’s official 2024 surveillance report records a Flock ALPR trial that began April 1, 2025, and describes approximately 45 cameras. That dated report documents a short-term trial; by itself, it does not establish that Boston currently operates the same system.
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Ask the records custodian
If public information is missing or appears stale, contact the department or submit a request through its public-records portal. EFF’s June 2026 explainer also points readers to these routes for asking about Flock ALPRs. Request current contracts and amendments, policies and special orders, camera counts and general locations, retention and deletion rules, data-sharing agreements or settings, and available audit or usage records.
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Ask explicitly whether the agency owns or operates cameras, can search a vendor-hosted network, or can query data contributed by other agencies. A question only about department-owned cameras may miss network access.
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Check neighboring and specialized agencies
City police are not the only possible operators. County sheriffs, state police, university police, transit police, and neighboring jurisdictions may run systems or share access. Check the agency records and dates for each jurisdiction relevant to where you live, work, or travel.
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Describe the finding narrowly
Keep these claims separate: a department has cameras; it can search another network; or cameras owned by another agency are physically located in the jurisdiction. Attribute counts, policies, and maps to the specific dated record that supports them. If searches turn up nothing, say that available records did not confirm use rather than asserting that no system exists.
What to ask the police or sheriff’s office
A focused request should establish whether the agency has equipment or access, which system it uses, how data is handled, and what oversight applies. You can adapt these questions for an email or public-records request:
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- Does the department currently own or operate ALPR cameras, or have access to ALPR data through another agency or vendor?
- Which vendor or system is used, how many cameras are active, and when was the contract last renewed?
- What written policy or special order governs use, including permitted purposes and approval requirements?
- How long are records retained, when are they deleted, and what rules govern sharing with other local, state, or federal agencies?
- Are searches logged and audited? Is a summary audit or annual report public?
- Which contracts, amendments, purchase orders, grant records, training materials, or surveillance reports document the program?
Disclosure varies under state and local law. Do not assume that plate-level records, precise camera locations, or audit logs will be released; the records custodian can explain what is available and any applicable limits.
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How to interpret broad claims and old records
EFF’s ALPR explainer reports that Flock Safety cameras are used by more than 5,000 police departments in 49 states. This is an EFF-reported figure, not an independently audited count or evidence that a particular agency in your area uses the technology. For a local answer, prioritize that agency’s current contract, policy, report, or written response.
Dates matter because contracts, deployments, and sharing arrangements can change. The Atlas is compiled from open sources rather than maintained as a real-time installation registry, so confirm the date of every map, contract, public statement, or report before treating it as current.
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