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Finding Flock

Cameras / California / San Francisco

License plate readers in San Francisco, CA

Volunteers have documented 485 automated license plate readers inside San Francisco. That is the 5th-largest total among the 353 California cities indexed here, and 2.3% of the statewide total. At 10.4 readers per square mile, San Francisco sits in the most densely covered 5% of the 2,398 US cities indexed nationally. Nearly all of them — 93% — are Flock Safety units. Volunteers also recorded non-government operators here, including Stonestown Galleria Mall. Where a mount was recorded, volunteers logged 326 on poles and 11 on street lamps.

Checked against OpenStreetMap October 7, 2026 · figures last changed October 7, 2026.

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  • 485

    readers documented

  • 10.4

    per square mile

  • 5th

    of 353 indexed California cities · 13th of 2,398 nationally

  • 2.3%

    of California’s documented total

Dot colors follow the manufacturer legend below. Boundary: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 Cartographic Boundary Files. Locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Who makes them

Compare every ALPR manufacturer nationally →

What volunteers recorded

Monitoring public roads
451 cameras are tagged as watching public streets or traffic.
Recorded operators
San Francisco Police Department (418), Stonestown Galleria Mall (13), Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District (8). All 726 recorded ALPR operators, ranked →
How they’re mounted
pole (326), street lamp (11), wall (1), light (1)
Coverage area
46.7 square miles of land inside city limits.

Nearby

Learn more: How to spot a Flock Safety camera · How ALPRs work · Can you opt out? · California's ALPR statute

These locations were documented in the field by OpenStreetMap volunteers and refresh automatically every six hours. They are evidence of where cameras have been seen — not a complete or official inventory, and cameras may have been added or removed since documentation. Corrections happen upstream: edit OpenStreetMap and this page will update. Read more in our methodology, or download the aggregates in bulk.