Lake County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Lake 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
Crown Point Police Department
The Crown Point Police Department operates four Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Crown Point Police Department operates one DJI Phantom drone as of 2018, 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 Collegewww.nwitimes.com
Lake Station Police Department
The Lake Station Police Department operates four Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Lake Station Police Department received a $21,600 grant for body-worn cameras from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Indiana Department of Homeland Security
Hobart Police Department
The Hobart Police Department operates three Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
New Chicago Police Department
The New Chicago Police Department operates four Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
East Chicago Police Department
The East Chicago Police Department uses SoundThinking's ResourceRouter.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): SoundThinking
East Chicago Poliice Department began using Shotspotter gunshot detection technology in 2013.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Times of Northwest IndianaShotspotter
Cedar Lake Police Department
As of April 2024, the Cedar Lake Police Department operates four 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
Hammond Police Department
The Hammond Police Department began using ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): SoundThinkingBureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice5 Chicago
The Hammond Police Department utilizes the Fusus camera registry.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fusus
The Hammond Police Department operates one drone as of 2017, 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 Collegewww.faa.gov
The Hammond Police Department uses Vigilant Solutions automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLU Indiana
Whiting Police Department
THe Whiting Police Department uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WLFI
Gary Police Department
The Gary Police Department was building a real-time crime center in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fusus
They Gary Police Department uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fusus
The Gary Police Department operates one drone as of 2017, 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 Collegewww.faa.gov
The Gary Police Department received a grant for body-worn cameras in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): 4/13/2022
The Gary Police Department maintains a camera registry through Fusus.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Connectgary.org
Griffith Police Department
The Griffith Police Department received a $26,400 grant for body-worn cameras from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Indiana Department of Homeland Security
The Griffith Police Department scanned 2,787,724 license plates in 2019 using Vigilant Solutions automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): MuckRock
Merrillville Police Department
The Merrillville Police Department received a $24,400 grant for body-worn cameras from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Indiana Department of Homeland Security
St. John Police Department
The St. John Police Department received $35,510 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase 25 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
Munster Police Department
The Munster Police Department uses Axon body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Munster Police DepartmentMunster Police DepartmentTown of Munster
The Munster Police Department uses Vigilant Solutions automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLU IndianaChicago Tribune
Lake County Sheriff
The Lake County Sheriff's office is using body-worn cameras but so far use of has been llimited.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Northwest Indiana TimesSpectrum News 13Lake County Sheriff's Office
Indiana University Police Department
The Indiana University Police Department uses body-worn cameras on all three campuses: Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana University, and Indiana University Northwest.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Indiana University NewsFox59
Highland Police Department
The Highland Police Department uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): NWI TimesChicago Tribune
Lake County Sheriff's Department
The Lake County Sheriff's Department uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): NWI Times
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026