Ottawa County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Ottawa 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
Ottawa County Sheriff's Department
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Department has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fox 17
Grand Valley State University Police Department
The Grand Valley State University Police Department has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fox 17
The Grand Valley State University Police Department has desktop access to Michigan State Police's face recognition system, the Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP).
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Michigan State PoliceMichigan State PoliceMichigan State Police
The Grand Valley State University Police Department began using Avigilon video analytics technology, which includes face recognition, in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Grand Valley State University Police Department began using Avigilon video analytics technology, which includes face recognition, in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Chronicle of Higher Education
Grand Haven Department of Public Safety
The Grand Haven Department of Public Safety has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fox 17
The Grand Haven Departmentof Public Safety received a Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant for $20,000.00 for 10 body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Justice & Security StrategiesJustice & Security Strategies
Holland Police Department
The Holland Police Department has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fox 17
The Holland Police Department has desktop access to Michigan State Police's face recognition system, the Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP).
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Michigan State PoliceMichigan State PoliceMichigan State Police
Ottawa County Sheriff's Office
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office has desktop access to Michigan State Police's face recognition system, the Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP).
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Michigan State PoliceMichigan State PoliceMichigan State Police
Grand Haven Department Of Public Safety
The Grand Haven Department Of Public Safety has desktop access to Michigan State Police's face recognition system, the Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP).
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Michigan State PoliceMichigan State PoliceMichigan State Police
Zeeland Police Department
The Zeeland Police Department has desktop access to Michigan State Police's face recognition system, the Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP).
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Michigan State PoliceMichigan State PoliceMichigan State Police
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026