Mobile County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Mobile County.
Technology presence
What these categories mean
- ALPR
- Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
- Fixed cameras & RTCC
- Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
- Face recognition
- Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
- Drones / UAS
- Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
- Gunshot detection
- Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
- Body-worn & dashcam
- Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
- Doorbell & camera registry
- Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
- Cell-site simulators
- Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
- Predictive policing
- Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
- Social-media monitoring
- Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.
The record, by agency
Citronelle Police Department
The Citronelle Police Department uses body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fox 10 NewsCtironelle Police Facebook page
Mobile Police Department
The Mobile Police Department operated drones as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WKRGMobile Police DepartmentCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
The Mobile Police Department received city council approval for a $640,000 three-year contract with Shotspotter in 2022. The gunshot detection system is part of "Operation Echo," a series of anti-gun crime measures.
The Mobile Police Department's Operation Shield program allows police to access private security cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Mobile Police Department
Saraland Police Department
The Saraland Police Department received a Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant for $2,000 for 10 body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Justice & Security StrategiesJustice & Security Strategies
Satsuma Police Department
The Satsuma Police Department received a Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant for $2,994 for 12 body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Justice & Security StrategiesJustice & Security Strategies
Chickasaw Police Department
The Chickasaw Police Department began using Axon body-worn cameras in 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Chickasaw Facebook pageNews 5
Mobile County Sheriff's Office
The Mobile County Sheriff's Office operated DJI drones as of 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Mobile County CommissionCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.faa.gov
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026