Stearns County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Stearns 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
Saint Cloud Police Department
The Saint Cloud Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Bureau of Criminal ApprehensionKNSI
The Saint Cloud Police Department spent $26,060 on its unmanned aerial vehicle program in 2023 and flew a drone 168 times without a warrant that year.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Department of Public SafetyMinnesota Bureau of Criminal ApprehensionCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
The St. Cloud Police Department has 122 Axon body-worn cameras, according to a 2023 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of St. Cloud - St. Cloud Police DepartmentRampart Audit LLC
Sartell Police Department
The Sartell Pollice Department received city council approval to install seven Flock Safety automated license plate readers in September 2023. The program was estimated to cost $29,050 for the first year and will have a recurring total of $24,500 per year.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): St. Cloud Live
Paynesville Police Department
The Paynesville Police Department has six WatchGuard body-worn cameras, according to a 2024 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Paynesville - Paynesville Police DepartmentLynn Lembcke Consulting
Stearns County Sheriff's Office
The Stearns County Sheriff's Office spent over $19,000 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 Stearns County Sheriff's Office has 12 WatchGuard body-worn cameras, according to a 2023 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Rampart Audit LLCStearns County - Stearns County Sheriff's Office
The Stearns County Sheriff's Office 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
Sauk Centre Police Department
The Sauk Centre Police Department spent $7,000 on its unmanned aerial vehicle program in 2023 and flew a drone nine times without a warrant that year.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Minnesota Department of Public SafetyMinnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
Cold Spring Police Department
The Cold Spring Police Department received $24,887 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase 13 body-worn cameras through the 2022 Small, Rural, Tribal BWC Microgrant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera microgrant grantee list
Waite Park Police Department
The Waite Park Police Department has 19 Axon body-worn cameras, according to a 2021 audit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Lynn Lembcke ConsultingMinn. Legislature - Legislative Commission on Data PracticesWaite Park Police Department
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026