Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) photograph every car that passes and record its plate, time, location, and direction. They pool that information into searchable databases that are shared across agencies and private companies. Most residents have no idea how many of these cameras exist or where they are. This map shows them.
Every dot is a reported license-plate camera. Tap one for the operator and details. Filter by agency using the legend, or pull the latest crowdsourced data live from OpenStreetMap.
Camera data is crowdsourced into OpenStreetMap and mirrors the national DeFlock map. Locations are approximate and community-reported — help improve them by adding cameras you spot.
An Automated License Plate Reader is a camera, often a small, solar-powered Flock Safety unit mounted on a pole, that photographs the back of every passing vehicle. Software then reads the plate and logs it with a timestamp, a GPS location, and a direction of travel.
On its own, a single snapshot is trivial. In bulk, these logs reconstruct where you go, when you go, how often you go, and who you go with, from your commute to your doctor to your church to your protest. No warrant is required, and no suspicion is needed. Everyone who drives past gets recorded.
This information is retained for weeks or years, and it is searchable across a shared national network of thousands of agencies.
Monterey County isn't a hypothetical. Departments from Salinas to Carmel run ALPR networks, and Flock's platform lets agencies search each other's data across state lines.
Flock's default settings share lookups with thousands of outside agencies. Local cameras have been searched by out-of-state and federal authorities, including for reasons that have nothing to do with local crime.
You were never asked. Most cameras go up through vendor contracts, not public votes, and residents rarely learn where they are or how long footage is kept.
Pitched to stop stolen cars, the same databases get used to track protesters, immigrants, abortion seekers, and people involved in ordinary civil disputes.
The map above is only as complete as the community makes it. Add cameras to OpenStreetMap and they'll appear here and on DeFlock nationwide.
How to map a camera →Ask your city or the county under the California Public Records Act: how many ALPRs, where, retention period, who they share data with, and the vendor contract.
Get a request template →ALPR contracts and renewals go through local government. Public comment works, and surveillance programs have been paused and rolled back when residents pushed back.
Find your council →Most people don't know these exist. Share this map with neighbors, local press, and community groups across the 831.
Share deflockmonterey.com →Camera locations are crowdsourced into OpenStreetMap by volunteers and mirrored from the national DeFlock project. This site queries that data live for Monterey County. The information is community-reported and approximate, and it is not an official government list.
Yes, it is legal. These cameras sit in public rights-of-way, where they photograph the public. Documenting their locations from public spaces is legal, and it is exactly what these cameras do to you, only in reverse.
Flock Safety is the largest ALPR vendor, but it is not the only one. "ALPR" (or "ANPR") is the general technology, and Flock, Motorola/Vigilant, and others all sell it. The map includes cameras from any operator once they are tagged in OpenStreetMap.
That is almost certainly true, because coverage depends entirely on volunteers. If you know of a camera that is not shown, or one that sits in the wrong place, please add or correct it in OpenStreetMap and it will update here.