Berks County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Berks 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
Reading Police Department
The Reading Police Department launched a drone unit in 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Reading Post
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $187,500 to the Reading Police Department in 2018 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of Justice
The Reading Police Department started using PredPol (now Geolitica) predictive policing software in 2013.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Reading Pennsylvania
Kutztown Borough Police Department
The Kutztown Borough Police Department received a Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant for $24,000 for 12 body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Justice & Security StrategiesJustice & Security Strategies
Northern Berks Regional Police Department
The Northern Berks Regional Police Department purchased 12 Motorola WatchGuard body-worn cameras in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Northern Berks Regional Police Department FacebookNorthern Berks Regional Police Department
Exeter Township Police Department
The Exeter Township Police Department approved the purchase of an automated license plate reader from PlateLogiq in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WFMZ 69 News
The Exeter Township Police Department approved the purchase of 20 WatchGuard body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WFMZ 69 News
Wyomissing Police Department
The Wyomissing Police department bought 16 Motorola body cameras in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Berks WeeklyWyomissing Police Deparment
The Wyomissing Police Department has been using automated license plate readers since at least 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Borough of Wyomissing
The Wyomissing Police Department paid $1,000 for a Clearview AI license.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Buzzfeed News
The Wyomissing Police Departmentoperates a camera registry via CRIMEWATCH.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): CRIMEWATCH
Bern Township Police Department
The Bern Township Police Department has been using body-worn cameras since at least 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Township of Bern
Spring Township Police Department
The Spring Township Police Department purchased 14 WatchGuard body-worn cameras in 2017.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Reading Eagle
Robeson Township Police Department
The Robeson Township Police Departmentoperates a camera registry via CRIMEWATCH.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): CRIMEWATCH
West Reading Police Department
The West Reading Police Departmentoperates a camera registry via CRIMEWATCH.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): CRIMEWATCH
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026