Crow Wing County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Crow Wing 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
Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office
The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office spent over $15,00 on drones in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Department of Public SafetyMinnesota Bureau of Criminal ApprehensionCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office maintains a registry of Community Watch Cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Crow Wing County Sheriff
Crosslake Police Department
The Crosslake Police Department uses Motorola body-worn cameras, according to a 2022 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Crosslake - Crosslake Police DepartmentLynn Lembcke ConsultingMinn. Legislature - Legislative Commission on Data PracticesFacebook
Baxter Police Department
The Baxter Police Department has 14 WatchGuard body-worn cameras, according to a 2023 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Baxter Police DepartmentLynn Lembcke ConsultingBaxter Police DepartmentLynn Lembcke Consulting
The Baxter Police Department flew an unmanned aerial vehicle without a warrant 4 times in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Pequot Lakes Police Department
The Pequot Lakes Police Department uses body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pequot Lakes Police Department's Facebook Page
The Pequot Lakes Police Department flew an unmanned aerial vehicle without a warrant once in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Nisswa Police Department
The Nisswa Police Department has six WatchGuard body-worn cameras, according to a 2021 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Nisswa - Nisswa Police DepartmentLynn Lembcke ConsultingMinn. Legislature - Legislative Commission on Data Practices
Brainerd Police Department
The Brainerd Police Department has 26 Axon body-worn cameras, according to a 2020 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Lynn Lembcke ConsultingMinn. Legislature - Legislative Commission on Data PracticesOffice of the State Auditor
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026