Winnebago County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Winnebago 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
Winnebago County Sheriff's Office
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office operates 44 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office has nine drones, according to the 2024 Illinois Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act Report. The agency conducted 13 drone flights between July 2023 and March 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Rockton Police Department
The Rockton Police Department operates five Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Rockton Police Department has 18 Axon body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Winnebago Police Department
The Winnebago Police Department has 10 body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Rockford Police Department
The Rockford Police Department has 300 Axon body-worn cameras as of 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): FOX 39Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
The Rockford Police Department has six drones, according to the 2024 Illinois Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act Report. The agency conducted eight drone flights between July 2023 and March 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
The Rockford Police Department uses Flock Safety license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WREX
The Rockford Police Department spent $310,000 on ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): RR Star
The Rockford Police Department maintains a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Rockford
Roscoe Police Department
The Roscoe Police Department has 19 body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
The Roscoe Police Department has one drone according to the 2024 Illinois Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act Report.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Cherry Valley Police Department
The Cherry Valley Police Department has 20 Axon body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Durand Police Department
The Durand Police Department has three body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Pecatonica Police Department
The Pecatonica Police Department has four Motorola body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Rock Valley College Police Department
The Rock Valley College Police Department has 11 body-worn cameras as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
South Beloit Police Department
The South Beloit Police Department has 15 Axon body-worn cameras as of 2024.
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