Flock & ALPR cameras in San Diego, CA
1,307 mapped ALPR cameras around metro San Diego as of 3 September 2026, run by 18 operators — ranking 32nd of the 251 metro areas BanditKin tracks. See each one on the live map below — which way it faces and its approximate capture zone — free, no account. BanditKin is the private app that routes around them.
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What makes San Diego different
San Diego is one of the few metros we map where Flock Safety is not the largest vendor: 608 mapped cameras are tagged Ubicquia against 576 tagged Flock. It also has one of the most distinctive physical deployments we find anywhere — 448 of its readers sit on street lamps against just 41 on dedicated poles, the reverse of almost every other city we map.
That shapes what the map can tell you. Only 693 of 1,307 cameras carry a recorded bearing, roughly half and one of the lowest shares we find, so direction-aware routing has less to work with in San Diego than in a well-documented metro like Houston. U.S. Customs and Border Protection also appears as an operator, with 4 cameras — something only the border metros show.
San Diego is one of seven California metros with a dedicated camera page. See the California ALPR camera overview for city-by-city counts across the state.
San Diego ALPR cameras by the numbers
The headline figures for San Diego, all read from one pull of the live map.
1,307
Mapped ALPR cameras in metro San Diego
18
Separate operating agencies on the map
693
Cameras with a recorded facing direction
576
Cameras tagged Flock Safety
Read from the live map on 3 September 2026. The underlying records are OpenStreetMap entries plus community submissions — nobody who operates a camera is obliged to declare it, so these are the documented minimum rather than the full picture. The metro is a box roughly 50 miles across centred on San Diego.
How San Diego compares
Upper third on size among the 251 metro areas tracked, all counted the same way on the same day.
San Diego ranks 32nd of the 251 metro areas BanditKin tracks by mapped cameras, between Edison, NJ and Pittsburgh, PA, and 140th by operator count.
Its cameras-per-operator figure of 72.6 ranks 2nd, its lead operator's 53% share ranks 25th, and its 53% bearing coverage ranks 240th — all of 251.
Mapped ALPR cameras
1,307 — 32nd of 251
Separate operators on the map
18 — 140th of 251
Cameras per operator
72.6 — 2nd of 251
Largest operator's share
53% — 25th of 251
Share with a recorded bearing
53% — 240th of 251
Ranked against the 251 metro areas BanditKin tracks, every one read from the live map on 3 September 2026. Metro areas are drawn as a box around the city centre, so neighbouring metros can share cameras and these counts must never be added together.
Which departments run the cameras around San Diego
Who runs San Diego's plate readers — all 18 operators, by mapped cameras.
San Diego Police Department
694 cameras
Chula Vista Police Department
142 cameras
Poway Police Department
79 cameras
El Cajon Police Department
62 cameras
San Diego County Sheriff's Department
39 cameras
Santee Police Department
32 cameras
Encinitas Police Department
26 cameras
National City Police Department
24 cameras
City of El Cajon
15 cameras
The Home Depot
14 cameras
La Mesa Police Department
13 cameras
Lowe's
9 cameras
Coronado Police Department
8 cameras
Solana Beach Police Department
6 cameras
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
4 cameras
Simon Property Group
1 camera
Del Mar Police Department
1 camera
Carlsbad Police Department
1 camera
These are all 18 operators. Where OpenStreetMap names an operator we use that name; otherwise the camera is attributed to whichever jurisdiction it stands in (472 cameras here), which is a sound inference rather than a confirmed fact. 137 cameras record no operator of any kind.
It isn't all Flock
'Flock' has become shorthand for any plate reader. Around San Diego it is only part of the story — 47% of the vendor-tagged cameras — but Ubicquia accounts for 608.
Ubicquia
608 cameras
Flock Safety
576 cameras
Neology
24 cameras
Motorola Solutions
6 cameras
Axon Enterprise
4 cameras
Genetec
2 cameras
Axis Communications
1 camera
Rekor
1 camera
Manufacturer is a free-text field, so spellings and legal names have been consolidated here. 84 of 1,307 mapped cameras name no manufacturer at all, which makes the actual distribution broader than shown. 1 further manufacturer falls below the eight shown. These count cameras on the map, not purchase orders.
Where they sit, and which way they face
693 of the 1,307 mapped cameras around San Diego record which way they point, which is what makes routing around them possible.
Most readers sit on a dedicated pole a few metres up, angled at one lane of traffic, with a solar panel above. Where the mount is recorded around San Diego:
On a street lamp
448 cameras
On a dedicated pole
41 cameras
On a post
3 cameras
On a building
1 camera
One camera covers one approach, so its heading is what decides which journeys end up recorded. Around San Diego the mapped bearings distribute like this:
Facing west
103 cameras
Facing north
98 cameras
Facing northwest
93 cameras
Facing south
87 cameras
Facing east
83 cameras
Facing northeast
80 cameras
Facing southwest
76 cameras
Facing southeast
73 cameras
Bearings come from public map data and describe an approximate capture zone, never an exact field of view. 613 mapped cameras have no recorded bearing, and 1 is tagged as omnidirectional.
Documented ALPR programs around San Diego
Records-based sources document 13 agencies running plate readers around San Diego. Some of the largest are below; the map above shows where the cameras actually are.
Chula Vista Police Department
The Chula Vista Police Department has been using automated license plate readers since 2007. Vendor: Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions.
Coronado Police Department
As of April 2024, the Coronado Police Department operates two Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 365 days. Vendor: Flock Safety.
El Cajon Police Department
As of April 2024, the El Cajon Police Department operates 40 Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 30 days. Vendor: Flock Safety.
Escondido Police Department
The Escondido Police Department collected more than 3,000,000 vehicle scans in 2022 using automated license plate readers. Vendor: Motorola Solutions.
La Mesa Police Department
The La Mesa Police Department operates Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions (formerly Vigilant Solutions) automated license plate readers. Vendor: Flock Safety, Vigilant Solutions.
Oceanside Police Department
The Oceanside Police Department began using automated license plate readers in May of 2015.
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Atlas of Surveillance. Summaries are the Atlas's own wording, trimmed to a complete sentence.
Seeing the cameras is free. Avoiding them is the app.
The map shows where the readers are and which way they face. BanditKin's navigation turns that into a routing preference: opt-in, field-of-view-aware, with a slider for how hard to try — and an honest fallback when no clean route exists.
This page is part of the California camera hub, which counts every camera inside the state line rather than by metro box. New to this? Read what ALPR cameras capture, how long it is kept, and who can search it. Not in San Diego? Search the full map by any city.
ALPR camera maps for nearby and related cities: Los Angeles, CA · San Francisco, CA · Riverside, CA · San Jose, CA · Sacramento, CA · Fresno, CA · Las Vegas, NV · Phoenix, AZ · Tucson, AZ · Provo, UT · Albuquerque, NM.
Get BanditKin on Google PlaySan Diego ALPR questions
How many Flock cameras does San Diego have?
Public map data records 1,307 ALPR cameras around metro San Diego as of 3 September 2026, run by 18 separate operators. 576 are tagged Flock Safety. That count is a floor, not a full inventory: cameras appear on the map as people map them, and 84 carry no manufacturer tag at all.
Where are Flock cameras in San Diego?
Open the map at the top of this page: every mapped camera around San Diego is plotted with its capture cone where a bearing is recorded. They cluster at junctions, on arterial roads and at the entrances to shopping centres. Missing one? Report it on the map.
Who operates the ALPR cameras around San Diego?
18 operators in total, led by San Diego Police Department (694) and Chula Vista Police Department (142). Of the cameras with a recorded operator type, 445 are police, 27 are sheriff's offices and 9 are privately run.
Can I avoid Flock cameras when driving in San Diego?
Yes, within limits. BanditKin routes around the 693 San Diego cameras whose facing direction is known (53% of the total), with a slider for how hard to try, and it tells you honestly when no camera-free route exists. It is off by default and never sends your identity or location.
Is this map free? Do I need an account?
The map is free and needs no account or sign-in. The data is public — OpenStreetMap, the EFF Atlas of Surveillance and community reports. The app is what adds camera-aware routing, and early users keep it free.