Flock cameras & license plate readers in Charlotte, NC
Volunteers have mapped 288 fixed license plate readers within 10 miles of downtown Charlotte in OpenStreetMap, and 229 (80%) are tagged as Flock Safety cameras. That puts Charlotte at #40 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 1,091. Within 5 miles it's 70.
Who makes them
Manufacturers as tagged by mappers, within 10 miles:
| Manufacturer | Mapped | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Safety | 229 | 80% |
| NDI Recognition Systems | 20 | 7% |
| Axis Communications | 16 | 6% |
| Not tagged | 9 | 3% |
| Uniview | 4 | 1% |
| Neology, Inc. | 4 | 1% |
Who runs them
22 of the 288 mapped readers (8%) have an operator recorded. 256 are tagged as public (government) cameras and 20 as private, such as store parking lots or HOAs.
- Lowe's: 12
- The Home Depot: 8
- Flock Safety: 1
- Cheshunt HOA: 1
Where they're mounted
Where mappers noted a mount, cameras sit on poles (57), post (20), street lights (1) and street light cable (1). 100% 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: 53
- Traffic-monitoring cameras: 19
- Speed/red-light cameras: 0
Check a Charlotte route
See how many mapped readers sit on a specific drive:
North Carolina license plate reader law
N.C.G.S. §20-183.30 to .33 require a written policy before use, bar use for traffic enforcement, and cap retention at 90 days. Source: NCSL, Automated License Plate Readers: State Statutes (summary, not legal advice; check the statute itself).
To find out which agencies around Charlotte 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
- Columbia, SC: 167 within 10 mi (85 mi away)
- Greenville, SC: 174 within 10 mi (91 mi away)
- Raleigh, NC: 251 within 10 mi (130 mi away)
All of North Carolina → · All city maps → · What are Flock cameras?
Frequently asked questions
How many Flock cameras are in Charlotte, NC?
As of October 29, 2026, OpenStreetMap has 229 Flock Safety cameras mapped within 10 miles of downtown Charlotte, out of 288 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 Charlotte?
Open the live map of Charlotte 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 North Carolina?
N.C.G.S. §20-183.30 to .33 require a written policy before use, bar use for traffic enforcement, and cap retention at 90 days. (Summary of NCSL's state-statutes table; not legal advice.)
Can this tell me if my car is being tracked in Charlotte?
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 (35.227, -80.843), from the October 29, 2026 snapshot. Circles overlap neighboring cities. Method and limits.
Protect yourself
Shrink the rest of your data trail
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All privacy tools and what they do (and don’t) protect →
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.