Pima County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Pima 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
Oro Valley Police Department
The Oro Valley Police Department operates 20 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Oro Valley Police Department operated drones as of 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Oro Valley Police DepartmentCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.tucsonlocalmedia.com
The Oro Valley Police Department uses body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ABC 15
University of Arizona Police Department
The University of Arizona Police Department operates 60 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The University of Arizona Police Department purchased 58 body cameras in 2015.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ABC 15 Arizona
Sahuarita Police Department
The Sahuarita Police Department operated drones as of 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Sahuarita Police DepartmentSahuarita Police DepartmentCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
Sahuarita Police Department began its body-worn camera program in 2017. As of 2019, SPD had 49 body-worn camera.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Sahuarita Sunwww.pcao.pima.gov
Pascua Yaqui Tribal Police Department
Pascua Yaqui Tribal Police Department received $80,000 to purchase 40 body-worn cameras through the Small, Rural and Tribal Body-worn Camera Program in 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): SRT BWC Program
Tucson Police Department
The Tuscon Police Department operated drones as of 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KGUN9Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.kold.com
As of January 2019, Tucson police had more than 500 body-worn cameras and was seeking funding for 129 more devices.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Tucson City AttorneyU.S Department of Justicewww.tucsonaz.gov
The Tucson Police Department launched a camera registry in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KOLD
The Tucson Police Department acquired cell-site simulator technology from Harris Corp. in 2010.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): VocativKevin CollierWired
The Tucson Police Department operates the Tucson Real-Time Analytical Crime Center (TRACC), a technology center that has access to many law enforcement databases. The TRACC staff monitors calls for service abd live video feeds and conducts predictive analysis of criminal activity.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Electronic Frontier Foundation
Pima County Sheriff's Office
The Pima County Sheriff's Office operates two DJI drones as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegetucson.com
Marana Police Department
The Marana Police Department purchased four automated license plate readers and one ALPR trailer in 2019 using federal funds through Operation Stonegarden.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Marana City Council
The Marana Police Department received 60 Axon body-worn cameras in 2016. In 2019, the agency planned to acquire 5 more units.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KGUN 9www.pcao.pima.gov
South Tucson Police Department
Meeting minutes from the South Tucson City Council show that South Tucson Police Department received funding from the Tohono O’Odham Nation to purchase body-worn cameras for all its officers in 2015. As of a 2018 meeting, the police continued to use the cameras and sought grant funding for a new server to store body camera footage and other digital evidence.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): South Tucsonwww.southtucsonaz.govwww.pcao.pima.gov
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026