Cameras / MN
License plate readers in Minnesota
1,612 cameras have been documented in Minnesota. That is the 25th-largest documented total of the 52 states and territories with any readers on record, and 1.1% of the 143,301 documented nationwide. Cottage Grove has the most of any city in the state, with 136 — 8.4% of the total. Flock Safety accounts for the largest share of the 1,127 readers counted in the state's indexed cities, at 85%. 1,127 of them stand in the 43 cities listed below. 485 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.
1,612
cameras documented statewide
25th
most-documented of 52 states and territories
1,127
in listed cities
485
outside city limits
ALPR law in Minnesota
Minnesota regulates automated license plate readers under Minn. Stat. § 13.824. The statute caps retention at 60 days. Plate data is classified as private or nonpublic and must be destroyed within 60 days unless it is active criminal investigative data. Using a reader to track a specific individual requires a warrant absent exigent circumstances, and agencies must publish reader locations and scan totals and commission an independent audit every two years.
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 Safety953
- Motorola Solutions45
- Genetec19
- Neology4
- Other vendors81
- Unknown25
By city
| City | Cameras | Per square mile |
|---|---|---|
| Cottage Grove | 136 | 4.04 |
| Minneapolis | 107 | 1.98 |
| Woodbury | 78 | 2.24 |
| St. Paul | 47 | 0.90 |
| Edina | 45 | 2.91 |
| Blaine | 41 | 1.25 |
| Eden Prairie | 36 | 1.11 |
| Coon Rapids | 33 | 1.46 |
| St. Louis Park | 32 | 3.01 |
| Plymouth | 32 | 0.98 |
| Brooklyn Park | 28 | 1.07 |
| Stillwater | 26 | 3.23 |
| Brooklyn Center | 26 | 3.25 |
| Lakeville | 26 | 0.70 |
| Minnetonka | 24 | 0.89 |
| Maplewood | 23 | 1.35 |
| Fridley | 22 | 2.16 |
| Elk River | 21 | 0.50 |
| Hopkins | 20 | 4.93 |
| Richfield | 19 | 2.80 |
| Bloomington | 19 | 0.55 |
| Shakopee | 18 | 0.61 |
| St. Cloud | 17 | 0.42 |
| North Oaks | 16 | 2.32 |
| Forest Lake | 16 | 0.52 |
| Eagan | 15 | 0.48 |
| Roseville | 15 | 1.15 |
| Newport | 15 | 4.15 |
| Oakdale | 14 | 1.28 |
| Burnsville | 14 | 0.56 |
| Moorhead | 13 | 0.58 |
| Bemidji | 13 | 0.75 |
| Prior Lake | 12 | 0.74 |
| New Brighton | 12 | 1.85 |
| St. Paul Park | 12 | 4.00 |
| Redwood Falls | 12 | 2.27 |
| Owatonna | 11 | 0.72 |
| Anoka | 11 | 1.65 |
| Mounds View | 10 | 2.46 |
| Faribault | 10 | 0.64 |
| Rogers | 10 | 0.39 |
| Wayzata | 10 | 3.24 |
| Red Wing | 10 | 0.29 |
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 Minnesota
One decision here is 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.
- Plymouth canceled its Flock Safety contract · Sep 22, 2026
Explore this data further
- Who operates Minnesota’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 →
Minnesota ranks 25th of 52 by documented cameras. Kentucky (1,858) ranks just above, and Oklahoma (1,491) just below.