Key Figures
| Documented ALPR cameras | 53 (52 tagged Flock Safety) |
| Statewide rank by count | #8 of 566 cities and towns |
| Cameras per 100,000 residents | 51.1 (#108 statewide; population 103,713) |
| Cameras per 1,000 square miles | 1265 (#57 statewide; 41.9 sq mi) |
| County | St. Joseph County — see the countywide report |
| Share of Indiana's documented network | 1.7% of 3,166 cameras |
Camera Locations
Only cameras inside South Bend's incorporated boundary are counted here. Cameras on nearby unincorporated roads appear in the St. Joseph County report.
See a camera that isn't on this map?
This map is crowdsourced — volunteers document each camera, and the data gets better with more volunteers. If you've spotted an ALPR camera in South Bend that isn't shown here, you can report it right from this page: drop a pin on the map, tell us which way it faces, and a volunteer will verify it and publish it to OpenStreetMap.
Which Agencies Use License Plate Readers Here
The Atlas of Surveillance, a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has documented 2 law enforcement agencies using automated license plate readers in South Bend.
| Agency | Type | Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Joseph County Police Department | Sheriff | Flock Safety |
| South Bend Police Department | Police | Flock Safety |
How South Bend Compares
| City / Town | Cameras | Per 100k residents |
|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis | 470 | 52.7 |
| Carmel | 100 | 96.5 |
| Fort Wayne | 86 | 31.5 |
| Evansville | 68 | 58.9 |
| Jeffersonville | 64 | 121.0 |
| South Bend (#8) | 53 | 51.1 |
| Indiana statewide | 3,166 | — |
Cities and towns ranked near South Bend: Greenwood (58) · Michigan City (53) · Gary (46) · Noblesville (46). See all 566 cities and towns ranked or the full statewide and 50-state figures in our live datasets.
Elsewhere in St. Joseph County
Other incorporated cities and towns in St. Joseph County: Mishawaka (19) · Roseland (5) · New Carlisle (2) · Lakeville (1) · Indian Village (0) · North Liberty (0) · Osceola (0) · Walkerton (0). The countywide report also covers cameras outside incorporated limits.
Share These Stats
Help your neighbors see what's been documented here. This shareable graphic is generated from South Bend's latest numbers — download it and post it anywhere.
Tip: download the image, then paste the caption into your post so the numbers and the link travel together.
What Flock Cameras and ALPRs Do
Automated license plate readers — best known through the vendor Flock Safety — photograph every passing vehicle, log its plate, location, and timestamp, and store that record in a searchable database. Indiana agencies that disclose figures on their own transparency portals report roughly 690 vehicles detected per camera per day, so even a small deployment builds a detailed history of where residents of South Bend drive, worship, seek medical care, and gather.
Indiana currently has no statewide law limiting how long this location data is kept, who can query it, or how searches are audited. Whatever practices South Bend agencies follow today are voluntary and can change at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Flock cameras are in South Bend, Indiana?
53 ALPR cameras have been documented inside South Bend's incorporated limits, and at least 52 of them are made by Flock Safety. This count updates automatically from OpenStreetMap, the crowdsourced dataset behind DeFlock.me, and the true number is likely higher.
Which police agencies use license plate readers in South Bend?
The Atlas of Surveillance documents 2 law enforcement agencies using license plate readers in South Bend: Saint Joseph County Police Department, South Bend Police Department.
Is there any law regulating ALPR cameras in South Bend?
No. Indiana has no statewide law governing automated license plate readers, so there are no required limits on how long agencies in South Bend retain your location data, who can search it, or how it is audited. Eyes Off Indiana is petitioning the Indiana General Assembly to pass statewide safeguards — see our policy goals.
How can I oppose license plate surveillance in South Bend?
Sign the Eyes Off Indiana petition, then contact your state legislators. Statewide rules on retention, access, and oversight require action by the Indiana General Assembly, and legislators track how many constituents from each community reach out.
Local Groups in South Bend
No local groups in South Bend are listed yet. If you're organizing around surveillance and privacy here, yours could be the first — countywide groups are listed on the St. Joseph County report.
Organizing in South Bend?
Submit your group and, once approved, it will be listed on this page and the St. Joseph County page so neighbors can find and join you.
List Your Local GroupData and Methods
Camera counts and locations are every OpenStreetMap node tagged
man_made=surveillance with surveillance:type=ALPR inside
South Bend's incorporated boundary, refreshed nightly at midnight (US Eastern)
via the Overpass API and assigned to the city with US Census cartographic
place polygons; population and land area are US Census Vintage 2024 figures; agency
records are from the Atlas of Surveillance. Cameras outside incorporated limits are
covered at the county level. Full methodology — including how documented counts relate
to installed counts, known biases, statewide growth since 2022, and rankings for all
50 states — is in our
living statistical report, where every
dataset on this page can be downloaded as CSV or JSON.
Concerned about surveillance in South Bend?
Indiana has no statewide rules for license plate readers. Add your name and tell your legislators that South Bend residents want limits on retention, access, and oversight.