Cameras / CA
License plate readers in California
21,071 cameras have been documented in California. That is the largest documented total of the 52 states and territories with any readers on record, and 14.7% of the 143,314 documented nationwide. San Diego has the most of any city in the state, with 733 — 3.5% of the total. Flock Safety accounts for the largest share of the 18,549 readers counted in the state's indexed cities, at 79%. 18,549 of them stand in the 353 cities listed below. 2,522 more are outside those city limits — along highways, in smaller towns, and in unincorporated areas.
Checked against OpenStreetMap September 29, 2026 · figures last changed September 29, 2026.
21,071
cameras documented statewide
1st
most-documented of 52 states and territories
18,549
in listed cities
2,522
outside city limits
ALPR law in California
California regulates automated license plate readers under Civil Code §§ 1798.90.5–1798.90.55. SB 34 reaches private ALPR operators as well as police: every operator must publish a usage and privacy policy, log each query, and public agencies may not sell or share plate data with non-public agencies. The statute sets no numeric retention cap, though Vehicle Code § 2413 limits Highway Patrol retention to 60 days.
ALPR laws in all 21 states with a statute →
Statute last verified September 26, 2026.
Who makes them
Manufacturer, where volunteers recorded it, for cameras in the listed cities.
- Flock Safety14,736
- Motorola Solutions1,715
- Genetec91
- Leonardo/ELSAG19
- Neology38
- Other vendors1,103
- Unknown847
By city
Camera locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). City boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 Cartographic Boundary Files. Counts reflect volunteer documentation, not an official census; cities appear once ten cameras are documented.
Contract decisions in California
3 decisions here are in our tracker of communities that have stepped back from Flock Safety. A decision date is not a removal date: cameras stay in the record above until a volunteer edits OpenStreetMap.
- Los Angeles Police Department declined to renew its Flock Safety contract · Jul 2026
- El Cerrito declined to renew its Flock Safety contract · Jun 2026
- Los Altos Hills canceled its Flock Safety contract · Jan 15, 2026
Explore this data further
- Who operates California’s cameras — police, HOAs, and retailers →
- Every ALPR manufacturer compared nationally →
- Download this data as CSV or GeoJSON →
- How the national count is measured →
- What a Flock camera is and how it works →
- What the cameras look like, and how to spot one →
- What residents can and cannot opt out of →
California ranks 1st of 52 by documented cameras. Texas (17,181) just below.