Flock cameras & license plate readers in Washington, DC
Volunteers have mapped 409 fixed license plate readers within 10 miles of downtown Washington in OpenStreetMap, and 365 (89%) are tagged as Flock Safety cameras. That puts Washington at #29 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 1,012. Within 5 miles it's 128.
Who makes them
Manufacturers as tagged by mappers, within 10 miles:
| Manufacturer | Mapped | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Safety | 365 | 89% |
| Not tagged | 13 | 3% |
| Leonardo | 10 | 2% |
| Motorola Solutions | 8 | 2% |
| Genetec | 5 | 1% |
| Axis Communications | 4 | 1% |
Who runs them
54 of the 409 mapped readers (13%) have an operator recorded. 334 are tagged as public (government) cameras and 4 as private, such as store parking lots or HOAs.
- Metro Police Department: 30
- Brookfield Property Partners: 6
- The Home Depot: 5
- Lowe's: 3
- Simon Property Group: 2
- Marylander Condominiums: 2
- Virginia State Police: 2
- DC Metropolitan Police Department: 1
Where they're mounted
Where mappers noted a mount, cameras sit on poles (50), gantry (7), street lights (5) and trailer (4). 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: 598
- Traffic-monitoring cameras: 47
- Speed/red-light cameras: 260
Check a Washington route
See how many mapped readers sit on a specific drive:
District of Columbia license plate reader law
NCSL identified no District of Columbia 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 Washington 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
- Baltimore, MD: 161 within 10 mi (35 mi away)
- Richmond, VA: 316 within 10 mi (97 mi away)
- Wilmington, DE: 258 within 10 mi (98 mi away)
- Philadelphia, PA: 326 within 10 mi (123 mi away)
- Virginia Beach, VA: 172 within 10 mi (153 mi away)
All of District of Columbia → · All city maps → · What are Flock cameras?
Frequently asked questions
How many Flock cameras are in Washington, DC?
As of October 29, 2026, OpenStreetMap has 365 Flock Safety cameras mapped within 10 miles of downtown Washington, out of 409 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 Washington?
Open the live map of Washington 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 District of Columbia?
NCSL identified no District of Columbia 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 Washington?
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 (38.907, -77.037), 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.