New Castle County
County record. Includes every city and agency within New Castle 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
Elsmere Police Department
The Elsmere Police Department uses body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Elsmere Police Department's Facebook page
Middletown Police Department
The Middletown Police Department received $3,759 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase 6 body-worn cameras through the 2022 Small, Rural, Tribal BWC Microgrant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera microgrant grantee list
New Castle County Police Department
The New Castle County Police Department uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): New Castle County Attorney's OfficeDelaware Online
The New Castle County Police Department operates two Lockheed Martin drones as of 2016, 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 Collegeregistry.faa.govwww.delawareonline.com
Wilmington Police Department
The Wilmington Police Department have been operating drones since 2014.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): First Responder Network Authority NetworkCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.delawareonline.com
The city of Wilminton purchased $2 million worth of Axon body-worn cameras and related services in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Wilmington
The Wilmington Police Department opened its real-time crime center in May 2016. The RTCC has the ability to see real-time data including gunshot detection and calls for service. WPD received $750,000 in state funding to purchase additional technology that allows for officers to share notes between shifts and to track officers while on patrol.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WHYY NPRTechnical.lyWECT 6
The Wilmington Police Department began using ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in 2014.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Delaware Online
Newark Police Department
The Newark Police Department used a Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant to purchase its first ALPR system from Major Police Supply in 2009 and has purchased additional systems since then, including from Vigilant Solutions.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLUNewark Police DepartmentNewark Post
In November 2019, the Newark City Council approved nearly $630,000 to be used to purchase 60 body-worn cameras and other video equipment from Axon.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Delaware OnlineNewark Post
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles
Delaware’s Department of Transportation (DelDOT) responds to face recognition requests from FBI’s FACE Services. DelDOT also responds to requests from law enforcement that are sent via DIAC, the Delaware Information and Analysis Center, or that are sent with a case number.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Electronic Frontier FoundationGovernment Accountability Office
Wilmington Department of Finance
The Wilmington Department of Finance purchased automated license plate readers from AutoVu in 2006.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Wilmington Area Planning CouncilCity of Wilmington
University of Delaware Police Department
The University of Delaware Police DepartmentPolice Department uses body worn cameras, according to a Delaware House Democrats press release.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Delaware House Democrats website
New Castle County Sheriff's Office
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $121,500 to the New Castle County Sheriff's Office in 2016 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of Justicewww.delawareonline.comwww.wrde.com
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026