Flock & ALPR cameras in San Francisco, CA
2,876 mapped ALPR cameras around metro San Francisco as of 3 September 2026, run by 78 operators — led by California Highway Patrol with 476. 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 Francisco different
San Francisco has one of the widest gaps between public records and mapped reality of any metro we cover. The EFF's Atlas of Surveillance documents just two agencies with ALPR programs across this area, while the live map records 78 separate operators. That is a records gap, not an absence of cameras — which is exactly why this page leans on the map data rather than on paperwork.
The largest operator here is not the city police. The California Highway Patrol accounts for 476 mapped cameras against San Francisco Police Department's 442, making the Bay Area the only place we map where a state agency runs the biggest share. Coverage then fragments quickly across Oakland, Daly City, Berkeley and dozens of smaller Bay Area departments, so a short drive can cross several agencies' retention policies.
San Francisco 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 Francisco ALPR cameras by the numbers
The headline figures for San Francisco, all read from one pull of the live map.
2,876
Mapped ALPR cameras in metro San Francisco
78
Separate operating agencies on the map
2,681
Cameras with a recorded facing direction
2,514
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 Francisco.
How San Francisco compares
Top of the table on size among the 251 metro areas tracked, all counted the same way on the same day.
San Francisco ranks 7th of the 251 metro areas BanditKin tracks by mapped cameras, between Los Angeles, CA and Plano, TX, and 23rd by operator count.
Its cameras-per-operator figure of 36.9 ranks 17th, its lead operator's 17% share ranks 181st, and its 93% bearing coverage ranks 83rd — all of 251.
Mapped ALPR cameras
2,876 — 7th of 251
Separate operators on the map
78 — 23rd of 251
Cameras per operator
36.9 — 17th of 251
Largest operator's share
17% — 181st of 251
Share with a recorded bearing
93% — 83rd 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 Francisco
The mapped cameras around San Francisco trace back to 78 separate operators. California Highway Patrol accounts for the largest single share.
California Highway Patrol
476 cameras
San Francisco Police Department
442 cameras
Oakland Police Department
91 cameras
Berkeley Police Department
87 cameras
Daly City Police Department
75 cameras
San Mateo Police Department
65 cameras
San Leandro Police Department
62 cameras
Vallejo Police Department
62 cameras
San Mateo County Sheriff's Office
52 cameras
San Bruno Police Department
51 cameras
Atherton Police Department
48 cameras
Alameda Police Department
48 cameras
Benicia Police Department
48 cameras
Hayward Police Department
47 cameras
South San Francisco Police Department
47 cameras
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
46 cameras
Richmond Police Department
46 cameras
Redwood City Police Department
40 cameras
El Cerrito Police Department
40 cameras
Marin County Sheriff's Department
37 cameras
These are the 20 largest of 78 operators. Where OpenStreetMap names an operator we use that name; otherwise the camera is attributed to whichever jurisdiction it stands in (1,209 cameras here), which is a sound inference rather than a confirmed fact. 394 cameras record no operator of any kind.
It isn't all Flock
'Flock' has become shorthand for any plate reader. Around San Francisco it is mostly accurate — 96% of the vendor-tagged cameras — but Motorola Solutions accounts for 50.
Flock Safety
2,514 cameras
Motorola Solutions
50 cameras
Bosch
26 cameras
CoStar
25 cameras
Genetec
6 cameras
Neology
6 cameras
Leonardo
2 cameras
Manufacturer is a free-text field, so spellings and legal names have been consolidated here. 247 of 2,876 mapped cameras name no manufacturer at all, which makes the actual distribution broader than shown. These count cameras on the map, not purchase orders.
Where they sit, and which way they face
2,681 of the 2,876 mapped cameras around San Francisco record which way they point, which is what makes routing around them possible.
They are easy to miss and hard to unsee — a small rectangular box on a narrow pole near a junction, generally with a solar panel and a stubby barrel lens. Where the data records how a camera around San Francisco is mounted, the split is:
On a dedicated pole
899 cameras
On a street lamp
73 cameras
On a wall
2 cameras
On a post
2 cameras
On a ceiling
1 camera
One camera covers one approach, so its heading is what decides which journeys end up recorded. Around San Francisco the mapped bearings distribute like this:
Facing south
419 cameras
Facing north
405 cameras
Facing west
390 cameras
Facing east
333 cameras
Facing southeast
302 cameras
Facing northwest
282 cameras
Facing northeast
277 cameras
Facing southwest
273 cameras
Bearings come from public map data and describe an approximate capture zone, never an exact field of view. 193 mapped cameras have no recorded bearing, and 2 are tagged as omnidirectional.
Documented ALPR programs around San Francisco
The EFF Atlas of Surveillance documents 2 agencies around San Francisco with automated license plate readers; the map records 78 operators. Both are floors.
San Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department began installing 400 Flock Safety automated license plate readers across 100 intersections in 2024. Previously they contracted with Neology Pips. Vendor: Flock Safety.
Northern California Regional Intelligence Center
The Northern California Regional Intelligence Center operates automated license plate readers and manages ALPR storage for agencies throughout the Bay Area.
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 Francisco? Search the full map by any city.
ALPR camera maps for nearby and related cities: Los Angeles, CA · Riverside, CA · San Jose, CA · San Diego, CA · Sacramento, CA · Fresno, CA · Las Vegas, NV · Salt Lake City, UT · Provo, UT · Phoenix, AZ · Seattle, WA.
Get BanditKin on Google PlaySan Francisco ALPR questions
How many Flock cameras does San Francisco have?
As of 3 September 2026 the map records 2,876 ALPR cameras around San Francisco, 2,514 of them tagged Flock Safety, across 78 operators. The number only ever grows as more are mapped; it is not a complete inventory.
Where are Flock cameras in San Francisco?
The live map above shows 2,876 mapped ALPR cameras around metro San Francisco, each with an approximate viewing cone. Positions come from OpenStreetMap and community reports, so coverage may be incomplete — if you know a camera that isn't shown, you can report it directly on the map.
Who operates the ALPR cameras around San Francisco?
78 operators in total, led by California Highway Patrol (476) and San Francisco Police Department (442). Of the cameras with a recorded operator type, 1,070 are police, 133 are sheriff's offices and 22 are privately run.
Can I avoid Flock cameras when driving in San Francisco?
Avoidance runs off recorded bearings, and San Francisco has 2,681 of 2,876 mapped cameras with one. BanditKin's navigation can route around them: it is opt-in, field-of-view-aware, and has a strength slider you control. Where no camera-free route exists it says so plainly and falls back to the normal route. This is a privacy preference — choosing not to be logged by a commercial surveillance network on public roads — and it works from public camera-location data.
Is this map free? Do I need an account?
Yes, the map is free, and no account is needed. It is built on public data — OpenStreetMap and the EFF Atlas of Surveillance — plus community reports. The BanditKin app adds the private navigation that routes around the cameras.