Flock & ALPR cameras in South Carolina
Public map data records 2,064 ALPR cameras inside South Carolina's borders as of 3 September 2026, run by 136 different operators. The Rock Hill area alone accounts for 684 of them. See every camera, which way it faces and its approximate capture zone — free, no account.
Two things stand out in South Carolina. First, the operator list is long — 136 separate bodies — so the lead agency, Greenville Police Department, holds only 3% of the total. Second, the count here is a true in-state figure: every camera was tested against the state polygon, not just a box drawn around a city. 623 of the 2,064 cameras carry no operator at all, so the operator shares above are shares of the attributed cameras.
Open the live camera mapWhich South Carolina cities have Flock cameras?
Camera counts for South Carolina's main metro areas, read from public map data on 3 September 2026.
Rock Hill
684 cameras
337 cameras
Columbia
248 cameras
Charleston
233 cameras
Myrtle Beach
141 cameras
Greenville has a full page with operator, vendor and direction breakdowns; the other metros are covered by the live map. Each metro count is a box drawn around the city centre, which is why two nearby cities can share cameras and why these rows don't sum to the state figure. Quote the in-state total at the top of the page for the state as a whole.
The largest ALPR operators in South Carolina
The lead agency runs 3%; here is the rest of the top eight.
Greenville Police Department
66 cameras
Lowe's
53 cameras
Richland County Sheriff's Office
52 cameras
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office
46 cameras
Sumter County Sheriff's Office
45 cameras
Charleston Police Department
39 cameras
Horry County Sheriff's Office
38 cameras
Greenville County Sheriff's Office
38 cameras
There is a clear leader — Greenville Police Department, 66 cameras — and then a long, flat tail of 135 other operators. Retail and private operators show up in the top twelve (Lowe's), which is worth knowing: those cameras are not run by any police agency.
Names are drawn from OpenStreetMap tags, falling back to the jurisdiction the camera sits in (1,334 of 2,064 here). A camera's operator is not always the body that paid for it.
It isn't all Flock in South Carolina
Which companies built the readers, and how many can be avoided by direction.
Flock Safety
1,887 cameras
Motorola Solutions
49 cameras
Axis Communications
29 cameras
Genetec
8 cameras
Rekor
7 cameras
'Flock camera' is shorthand here, not the whole story: 95% of vendor-tagged cameras in South Carolina are Flock Safety, and Motorola Solutions accounts for 49. 70 cameras are unattributed to any vendor.
1,801 of 2,064 cameras (87%) carry a facing direction; the rest are shown as omnidirectional. Recorded mounts run pole (338), street lamp (33), post (12), gantry (1).
Documented ALPR programs in South Carolina
74 South Carolina agencies appear in the EFF Atlas of Surveillance as ALPR users. That is a records count; the 136 operators on the map are a physical count. Both are floors.
Richland County Sheriff's Office — Richland County
The Richland County Sheriff's Office installed Flock Safety automated license plate readers at five locations across Richland County in 2022. Vendor: Flock Safety.
Charleston County Sheriff's Office — Charleston County
The Charleston County Sheriff's Office uses automated license plate readers.
North Charleston Police Department — Charleston County
The North Charleston Police Department paid $41,500 for NDI Technologies automated license plate readers in 2018. Vendor: NDI Technologies.
Florence Police Department — Florence County
The Florence Police Department has been using automated license plate readers since at least 2013.
Florence County Sheriff's Office — Florence County
The Florence County Sheriff's Office has been using automated license plate readers since at least 2013.
Myrtle Beach Police Department — Horry County
The Myrtle Beach Police Department had 37 automated license plate readers as of 2019.
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Atlas of Surveillance. Summaries are the Atlas's own wording, trimmed to a complete sentence.
South Carolina ALPR questions
How many Flock cameras are there in South Carolina?
As of 3 September 2026 the map records 2,064 ALPR cameras in South Carolina, of which 1,887 carry a Flock Safety tag. The number only ever goes up as more are mapped; it is not a complete inventory.
Which cities in South Carolina have Flock cameras?
The largest clusters are around Rock Hill (684), Greenville (337), Columbia (248), Charleston (233), Myrtle Beach (141). Smaller SC towns appear on the live map too — these are simply the biggest metro areas.
Who operates ALPR cameras in South Carolina?
136 operators in total. The largest is Greenville Police Department with 66 mapped cameras, then Lowe's with 53. Of cameras with a recorded operator type, 661 are police, 673 are sheriff's offices and 48 are privately run.
Are all the plate readers in South Carolina made by Flock?
No. Flock Safety is tagged on 1,887 of 1,994 vendor-recorded cameras (95%); Motorola Solutions accounts for 49, and 70 cameras have no vendor recorded at all. 'Flock camera' is the common name, but the map covers every ALPR it can find.
Can I avoid Flock cameras when driving in South Carolina?
Yes, within limits. BanditKin routes around cameras whose facing direction is known — 1,801 of South Carolina's 2,064 — 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.