Flock cameras in Chicago: separate the map, the agency and the date

The circle includes more than Chicago's municipal program

The snapshot contains 1,073 records classified as ALPR: 199 with a Flock attribution and 874 attributed to other vendors or without a vendor attribution. It was retrieved October 3, 2026 at 13:54 UTC, using a 10-mile radius around 41.8781, -87.6298 in downtown Chicago.

A circle around downtown is not Chicago's city boundary. It includes part of Lake Michigan and reaches neighboring communities, while leaving other parts of the city outside the search area. The 199 figure therefore describes source records in that circle, not the number of cameras purchased, owned or operated by the Chicago Police Department.

Open the city page for the current map, then inspect the location and source attribution of each entry. Use the dated figures here when comparing this report with a later refresh. A change in records can reflect a correction or newly mapped location, rather than a new installation that week.

Open the Chicago city map and current summary · Explore the downtown-centered map

An unknown vendor is a useful warning against assuming Flock

The nearest sample records in this snapshot include entries labeled Axis communications and entries with no vendor recorded. For example, the record near 41.8754, -87.6309 carries the Axis label; another near 41.8757, -87.6309 has no vendor recorded. These are source labels, not an equipment inspection or proof of CPD ownership.

The snapshot supplies a direction for 856 records and a last-verification date for none. Direction can help interpret a mapped claim, but it cannot tell you whether the device is working today. An absent date should remain an uncertainty, rather than being replaced with the date this article was published.

Inspect the example record labeled Axis · Use the camera identification guide

CPD policy describes readers beyond fixed map pins

CPD's official directive repository serves Special Order S03-20, effective February 4, 2020. It describes fixed, portable and vehicle-mounted license plate recognition equipment. The order states a 365-day retention period for plate reads, with separate preservation of material pertinent to criminal or civil matters. This is the policy version retrieved October 3, 2026, not a verification of compliance.

The order also describes departmental querying through CPIC and checks operators make on alerts before enforcement, subject to the stated circumstances. A community map of reported fixed locations cannot reproduce that operational system or account for a reader moving with a vehicle.

Flock is explicitly mentioned in CPD's 2023 Annual Report. Page 108 discusses expanded use of license plate recognition software and FLOCK cameras in its forward-looking discussion of 2024. This is dated evidence of the department's stated direction. It is not a current deployment count, a list of poles or proof that every Flock-attributed record on our map belongs to CPD.

Read CPD's official S03-20 directive · Download CPD's 2023 Annual Report; see page 108

Cook County and Oak Park show why agency and date matter

Cook County's published contract 2217-06143 names the Cook County Sheriff's Office and Flock Group for license plate readers. That establishes a documented county procurement relationship. It does not make the Sheriff and CPD interchangeable or identify the owner of an unlabeled map entry. A contract alone also does not establish that every purchased unit remains installed or operating.

Oak Park provides a particularly clear example of a changing local program. Its official page, updated August 6, 2025, says the Village Board approved termination on August 5, ending use of the technology immediately. The same page still contains an older FAQ about eight readers introduced in 2022, explicitly labeled as older information.

Reading only that older FAQ would give the wrong account of the village's stated program status. The termination notice, in turn, does not establish physical removal of every housing or the absence of privately operated equipment. Oak Park is a separate municipality: this notice should not be presented as a Chicago-wide shutdown.

Read Cook County's published Flock contract · Read Oak Park's dated update above its older FAQ

Match the records request to the operator

Begin with the exact location and the agency or property owner identified by reliable records. For a CPD installation, use CPD's official request process. For a sheriff's installation, seek county records. For a neighboring village, check that municipality's current program page and records office. Geographic proximity does not combine their inventories or policies.

Request existing inventories by manufacturer and model, installation and deactivation records, contracts, and current database-sharing agreements. Separate physical devices from access to another agency's plate-read records. Ask for a date range and distinguish fixed, portable and vehicle-mounted readers so a response can answer the actual question.

Please provide existing records identifying the operator, manufacturer and model of ALPR equipment at [location], together with installation, deactivation or removal records for [date range]. Please distinguish locally operated devices from access to plate-read data supplied by other agencies or vendors.

CPD's official public records request form · Prepare a focused ALPR records request

A dated map observation, not an operating-camera audit

We selected ALPR-class records from FlockDetour's public production dataset, excluded records marked removed, deduplicated IDs and counted records within the circle. This snapshot did not report truncation. That result does not prove a complete inventory, accurate attribution or one physical camera per source record.

No physical site visit was performed for this report. The retrieval date does not verify an installation or its operating status. Mobile readers and missing or stale community records remain gaps. Use the official documents to understand a named program and the map to inspect reported locations, keeping their different scopes visible.

Review the camera dataset's sources and limits · Understand why camera maps disagree

Related guides

Flock cameras in New York: what the map and NYPD records show · How to request your city's Flock audit logs · Why do Flock camera maps show different counts? · All guides · Live camera map · Get the app