Sherburne County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Sherburne 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
Sherburne County Sheriff's Office
The Sherburne County Sheriff's Office has 272 Motorola body-worn cameras, according to a 2024 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Rampart Audit LLCSherburne County - Sherburne County Sheriff's OfficeRampart Audit LLCSherburne County - Sherburne County Sheriff's OfficeLynn Lembcke ConsultingSherburne County - Sherburne County Sheriff's Office
The Sherburne County Sheriff's Office spent $12,345 on its unmanned aerial vehicle program in 2023 and flew a drone 44 times without a warrant that year.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Department of Public SafetyMinnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Sherburne County paid $5,495 to Clearview AI in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): www.co.sherburne.mn.us
Big Lake Police Department
The Big Lake Police Department used a drone at least 24 times 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 Big Lake Police Department uses Axon body-worn cameras, according to a 2019 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Lynn Lembcke ConsultingMinn. Legislature - Legislative Commission on Data PracticesBig Lake Police Department
Elk River Police Department
The Elk River Police Department operated drones as of 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Becker Police Department
The Becker Police Department has 10 Axon body-worn cameras, according to a 2019 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minn. Legislature - Legislative Commission on Data PracticesOffice of the State Auditor
Princeton Police Department
The Princeton Police Department disclosed to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that it uses automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026