Imperial County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Imperial 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
El Centro Police Department
The El Centro Police Department operates automated license plate readers and participates in the Imperial County Regional ALPR program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): El Centro Police DepartmentCalifornia State AuditorCity of Centro
The El Centro Police Department has used body-worn cameras since 2013.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): El Centro Chamber of Conference
Brawley Police Department
As of April 2024, the Brawley Police Department operates 26 Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 30 days.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock SafetyThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer
Imperial County Sheriff's Department
The Imperial County Sheriff's Office operates the Imperical County Regional Automated License Plate Reader program. It has Motorola Solutions and Flock Safety ALPRs.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): MuckrockCalifornia State AuditorHoltville
The Imperial County Sheriff's Office operated eight drones as of 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Imperial County Sheriff's OfficeImperial County Sheriff's Officekyma.com
The Imperial County Sheriff's Office purchased 100 body-worn cameras for $74,770.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KYMAU.S Department of Justice
Imperial Police Department
The Imperial Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of ImperialCalexico Chronicle
Westmorland Police Department
The Westmoreland Police Department participates in the Imperial County Regional Automated License Plate Reader Program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Westmorland Police DepartmentCalifornia State AuditorCalexico Chronicle
Calexico Police Department
The Calexico Police Department adopted body-worn cameras in 2016. The department purchased 40 units for its officers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KYMA
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026