Washington County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Washington 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
Springdale Police Department
The Springdale Police Department is partnering with Flock Safety on a new voluntary camera registry program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KNWAFlock Safety
The Springdale Police Department has been operating drones since 2019 and had five drones as of 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KNWA Fox 24Springdale Police Department FaceboookNorthwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Elkins Police Department
The Elkins Police Department received a Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant for $4,000.00 for 6 body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Justice & Security StrategiesJustice & Security Strategies
Washington County Sheriff's Office
The Washington County Sheriff's Office operated drones as of 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Northwest Arkansas Democrat GazetteCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.nwahomepage.com
University of Arkansas Police Department
The University of Arkansas Police Department uses Wolfcom body-worn cameras, according to a testimonial on the company's website. The agency purchased 40 body-worn cameras for $20,000 in 2015.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Northwest Arkansas Democrat GazetteWolfcomOneZero
Fayetteville Police Department
The Fayetteville Police Department began using Axon body-worn cameras in 2017. In 2016, the agency received a $186,496 grant in 2016 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fayetteville FlyerArkansas Democrat GazetteKNWA Fox 24
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026