License plate readers in Des Moines, IA
Volunteers have documented 11 automated license plate readers inside Des Moines. That is the 19th-largest total among the 23 Iowa cities indexed here, and 1.3% of the statewide total. Its 0.1 readers per square mile spread across 88.2 square miles, the thinnest coverage of the 2,332 cities indexed nationally. Every one of them is a Flock Safety unit. Volunteers also recorded non-government operators here, including The Home Depot.
Checked against OpenStreetMap September 1, 2026 · figures last changed September 1, 2026.
11
readers documented
0.1
per square mile
19th
of 23 indexed Iowa cities · 2,007th of 2,332 nationally
1.3%
of Iowa’s documented total
Dot colors follow the manufacturer legend below. Boundary: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 Cartographic Boundary Files. Locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What volunteers recorded
- Monitoring public roads
- 11 cameras are tagged as watching public streets or traffic.
- Recorded operators
- The Home Depot (1). All 710 recorded ALPR operators, ranked →
- How they’re mounted
- poll with solar charger (1), pole (1)
- Coverage area
- 88.2 square miles of land inside city limits.
Nearby
Learn more: How to spot a Flock Safety camera · How ALPRs work
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.