City of Springfield
Hampden County · Massachusetts
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
Springfield Police Department
The Springfield Police Department purchased BriefCam video analytics software in 2018 as part of $1 million public safety upgrade.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): BuzzfeedMass Lives News
The Springfield Police Department received a $1.1-million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2019 to equip 500 police officers with body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WAMCMass LiveSpringfield, MA Gov
The Springfield Real Time Crime Analysis and Intelligence Center opened in 2018. Located on the second floor of the Springfield Police Department headquarters, the center receives live feeds from cameras owned by the city as well as some privatelly owned cameras. Staff access gunshot detection software and assorted police databases.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WAMC Northeast Public RadioWNPR
The Springfield Police Department acquired automated license plate readers as early as 2009 and received a grant for more systems in 2010.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Mass LivePrivacy SOSELSAG
The Springfield Police Department upgraded its ShotSpotter gunshot detection system in 2013.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Business Wire
The Springfield Police Department maintains a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras through Motorola Solutions' CityProtect platform.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): CityProtect
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026