Macon County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Macon 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
Mount Zion Police Department
The Mount Zion Police Department operates four Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Mount Zion Police Department has 11 Motorola body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Macon County Sheriff's Office
The Macon County Sheriff's Office has four drones, according to the 2024 Illinois Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act Report. The agency conducted two drone flights between July 2023 and March 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
The Macon County Sheriff’s Office uses body-worn cameras, according to a 2018 report by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Decatur Police Department
The Decatur Police Department has 133 i-PRO body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
The Decatur Police Department has five drones, according to the 2024 Illinois Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act Report. The agency conducted 48 drone flights between July 2023 and March 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
The Decatur Police Department installed 60 Flock Safety automated license plate readers in 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Herald and ReviewHerald and Review
The Decatur Police Department maintains a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Decatur Illinois
Maroa Police Department
The Maroa Police Department uses body-worn cameras, according to a 2018 report by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026