Cass County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Cass 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
Fargo Police Department
The Fargo Police Department has a real-time crime center.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): FacebookValley News Live
The Fargo Police Department can run face recognition requests through the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation's face recognition system. The agency submitted 27 requests through the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's face recognition system between March 2023 to October 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bureau Of Criminal Investigation Division of North Dakota
The Fargo Police Department received approval for the purchase of Flock Safety technology in September 2024. Since 2010, the agency has equipped squad cars with automated license plate readers. In 2018, the police department purchased four additional ALPRs for $60,000 from Pips Technology.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Bismarck TribuneThe City of FargoWDAY
The Red River Valley UAS Unit operates eight DJI drones as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. The unit is comprised of staff from the Fargo Fire Department, Fargo Police Department, West Fargo Fire Department, West Fargo Police Department, and the Cass County Sheriff's Office
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.grandforksherald.com
The Fargo Police Department operates a camera registry through its SafeCam program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Fargo
Cass County Sheriff's Office
The Cass County Sheriff's Office can run face recognition requests through the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation's face recognition system. The agency submitted one requests through the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's face recognition system between March 2023 to October 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bureau Of Criminal Investigation Division of North Dakota
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office began using Flock Safety automated license plate readers in March 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WDAY
The Cass County Sheriff's Office has used Axon body-worn cameras since 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Cass CountyCass County Sheriff's Office Facebook
The Cass County Sheriff's Office operates one drone as of 2018, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. The Fargo Fire Department, Fargo Police Department, West Fargo Fire Department, West Fargo Police Department, and the Cass County Sheriff's Office are part of the Red River Valley UAS Unit.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.faa.gov
West Fargo Police Department
The West Fargo Police Department can run face recognition requests through the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation's face recognition system. The agency submitted three requests through the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's face recognition system between March 2023 to October 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bureau Of Criminal Investigation Division of North Dakota
The West Fargo Police Department paid $1,000 to Clearview AI for face recognition services in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of West Fargo
The Red River Valley UAS Unit operates eight DJI drones as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. The unit is comprised of staff from the Fargo Fire Department, Fargo Police Department, West Fargo Fire Department, West Fargo Police Department, and the Cass County Sheriff's Office
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
The West Fargo Police Department started a camera registry in 2015 called the "Citizens Electronic Eye" program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Inforum
The West Fargo Police Department has used automated license plate readers since 2010.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): InforumGrand Forks Herald
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026