Erie County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Erie 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
Erie County Sheriff's Office
The Erie County Sheriff's Office operates 10 Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
In January 2022, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine awarded $37,188.92 to the Erie County Sheriff's Office for expenses associated with launching or maintaining body-worn camera programs. The Erie County Sheriff's Office received an additional $43,767 grant for body-worn cameras from the Ohio Department of Public Safety in December 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Office of the GovernorOffice of the GovernorOhio Department of Public Safety
The Erie County Sheriff's Office operates one drone as of 2016, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.sanduskyregister.com
Huron Police Department
The Huron Police Department operates eight Flock Safety automated license plate readers as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Huron Police Department received a $92,602 grant for body-worn cameras from the Ohio Department of Public Safety in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Ohio Department of Public SafetyOhio Governor's Office
Perkins Township Police Department
The Perkins Township Police Department installed 15 Flock Safety automated license plate readers in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Sandusky Register
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $28,129 to the Perkins Township Police Department in 2018 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program. The Perkins Township Police Department received an additional $96,286 grant for body-worn cameras from the Ohio Department of Public Safety in December 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of JusticeOhio Department of Public Safetygovernor.ohio.gov
Milan Police Department
The Milan Police Department received a $17,196 grant for body-worn cameras from the Ohio Department of Public Safety in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Ohio Department of Public SafetyOhio Governor's Office
Sandusky Police Department
The Sandusky Police Department bought 56 Axon body cameras in 2019. The Sandusky Police Department received an additional $11,760 grant for body-worn cameras from the Ohio Department of Public Safety in December 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Sandusky City governmentOhio Department of Public Safetygovernor.ohio.gov
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026