Flock cameras & license plate readers in Charleston, SC
Volunteers have mapped 96 fixed license plate readers within 10 miles of downtown Charleston in OpenStreetMap, and 81 (84%) are tagged as Flock Safety cameras. That puts Charleston at #79 of the 87 US cities we track for mapped plate readers near the city center. Widen the circle to 25 miles and the count is 218. Within 5 miles it's 37.
Who makes them
Manufacturers as tagged by mappers, within 10 miles:
| Manufacturer | Mapped | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Safety | 81 | 84% |
| Not tagged | 10 | 10% |
| Motorola Solutions | 1 | 1% |
| Genetec | 1 | 1% |
| Neology, Inc. | 1 | 1% |
| Rekor | 1 | 1% |
Who runs them
10 of the 96 mapped readers (10%) have an operator recorded. 57 are tagged as public (government) cameras and 3 as private, such as store parking lots or HOAs.
- Mount Pleasant Police Department: 7
- Lowe's: 3
Where they're mounted
Where mappers noted a mount, cameras sit on poles (7), traffic signals (1) and street lights (1). 99% have a mapped facing direction, which our route check uses to estimate whether a camera faces your direction of travel.
Other cameras mapped nearby
- Public/outdoor CCTV: 5
- Traffic-monitoring cameras: 6
- Speed/red-light cameras: 0
Check a Charleston route
See how many mapped readers sit on a specific drive:
South Carolina license plate reader law
NCSL identified no South Carolina statute that expressly addresses license plate readers. Local agency policies still apply. Source: NCSL, Automated License Plate Readers: State Statutes (summary, not legal advice; check the statute itself).
To find out which agencies around Charleston use ALPRs, search the EFF Atlas of Surveillance or follow our records-request guide. Spot a camera that isn't on the map? Add it via DeFlock.
Nearby city maps
- Savannah, GA: 226 within 10 mi (83 mi away)
- Columbia, SC: 167 within 10 mi (106 mi away)
All of South Carolina → · All city maps → · What are Flock cameras?
Frequently asked questions
How many Flock cameras are in Charleston, SC?
As of October 29, 2026, OpenStreetMap has 81 Flock Safety cameras mapped within 10 miles of downtown Charleston, out of 96 mapped license plate readers in total. Mapping is volunteer-driven and incomplete, so treat this as a minimum, not an exact count.
Where are the license plate readers in Charleston?
Open the live map of Charleston on this site to see every mapped reader as a red dot. Zoom in for street-level positions, and toggle CCTV, traffic and speed-camera layers. Positions come from OpenStreetMap volunteers and may be off.
Is it legal to use license plate readers in South Carolina?
NCSL identified no South Carolina statute that expressly addresses license plate readers. (Summary of NCSL's state-statutes table; not legal advice.)
Can this tell me if my car is being tracked in Charleston?
No. It shows where mapped cameras are. It can't see whether a camera captured your plate or whether anyone searched for it.
How we count: OSM nodes tagged surveillance:type=ALPR within a straight-line radius of the city coordinates (32.777, -79.931), from the October 29, 2026 snapshot. Circles overlap neighboring cities. Method and limits.
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Disclosure: Some of these may become affiliate links, meaning we could earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That never changes the counts or scores. We list legal privacy tools only. We will never promote plate covers, plate-obscuring products or anything meant to evade police, and none of these tools stop license-plate readers.