Porter County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Porter 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
Chesterton Police Department
The Chesterton Police Department operates 14 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Chesterton Police Department acquired body-worn cameras as early as 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Chesterton Police Department Facebook
Hebron Police Department
The Hebron Police Department operates two Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Hebron Police Department received a $5,406 grant for body-worn cameras from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Indiana Department of Homeland Security
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Police Department
The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Police Department operates two Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
Porter County Sheriff's Office
As of April 2024, the Porter County Sheriff's Office operates 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
The Porter County Sheriff's Office 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.chicagotribune.com
Kouts Police Department
The Kouts Police Department received a $4,590 grant for body-worn cameras from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Indiana Department of Homeland Security
Valparaiso Police Department
The Valparaiso Police Department operates two DJI drones 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.nwitimes.com
The Valparaiso Police Department uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): NWI Times
The Valparaiso Police Department acquired BodyWorn body-worn cameras for all officers in 2017.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Times of Northwest Indiana
The Valparaiso Police Department's SafeCam program is a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Valparaiso Police Department
Porter County Sheriff’s Office
The Porter County Sheriff's Office acquired BodyWorn body-worn cameras in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Northwest Indiana Times
Portage Police Department
The Portage Police 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