Flock cameras & license plate readers in Chicago, IL
Volunteers have mapped 1,089 fixed license plate readers within 10 miles of downtown Chicago in OpenStreetMap, and 195 (18%) are tagged as Flock Safety cameras. That puts Chicago at #4 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 3,356. Within 5 miles it's 590.
Who makes them
Manufacturers as tagged by mappers, within 10 miles:
| Manufacturer | Mapped | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Not tagged | 346 | 32% |
| Motorola Solutions | 231 | 21% |
| Axis communications | 228 | 21% |
| Flock Safety | 195 | 18% |
| Genetec | 48 | 4% |
| Axis Communications | 35 | 3% |
Who runs them
299 of the 1,089 mapped readers (27%) have an operator recorded. 585 are tagged as public (government) cameras and 3 as private, such as store parking lots or HOAs.
- Chicago Police Department: 208
- Illinois State Police: 56
- Flock Safety: 16
- University of Chicago Police Department: 8
- The Home Depot: 5
- Riverside IL PD: 2
- University of Illinois Chicago: 2
- Village of River Forest: 1
Where they're mounted
Where mappers noted a mount, cameras sit on traffic signals (141), poles (93), street lights (67) and walls (46). 79% 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: 661
- Traffic-monitoring cameras: 55
- Speed/red-light cameras: 17
Check a Chicago route
See how many mapped readers sit on a specific drive:
Illinois license plate reader law
Illinois limits sharing ALPR data for investigations into reproductive health care or immigration status, and requires written declarations from out-of-state agencies. Source: NCSL, Automated License Plate Readers: State Statutes (summary, not legal advice; check the statute itself).
To find out which agencies around Chicago 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
- Milwaukee, WI: 340 within 10 mi (81 mi away)
- Madison, WI: 45 within 10 mi (122 mi away)
All of Illinois → · All city maps → · What are Flock cameras?
Frequently asked questions
How many Flock cameras are in Chicago, IL?
As of October 29, 2026, OpenStreetMap has 195 Flock Safety cameras mapped within 10 miles of downtown Chicago, out of 1,089 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 Chicago?
Open the live map of Chicago 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 Illinois?
Illinois limits sharing ALPR data for investigations into reproductive health care or immigration status, and requires written declarations from out-of-state agencies. (Summary of NCSL's state-statutes table; not legal advice.)
Can this tell me if my car is being tracked in Chicago?
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 (41.878, -87.630), from the October 29, 2026 snapshot. Circles overlap neighboring cities. Method and limits.
Protect yourself
Shrink the rest of your data trail
Data-broker removal
Private payments
Encrypted connection
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.