Pierce County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Pierce 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
Sumner Police Department
The Sumner Police Department has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Sumner Facebook page
The Sumner Police Department has been using body-worn cameras since late 2021, early 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Government informationNew article
Tacoma Police Department
The Tacoma Police Department began using SoundThinking's ShotSpotter in spring 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KUOW
The Tacoma Police Department acquired a Stingray cell-site simulator from Harris Corp. in 2008.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): VocativMuckRockThe News Tribune
The Tacoma Police Department began using PredPol (now Geolitica) predictive policing software in 2013.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fox NewsTacoma Police Department
The Tacoma Police Department has used automated license plate readers since at least 2013.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Seattle Times
Lakewood Police Department
As of April 2024, the Lakewood Police Department operates 31 Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 30 days.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock SafetyThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer
The Lakewood Police Department purchased Coban body-worn cameras in 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Suburban Times
The Lakewood Police Department has a COMPSTAT program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Lakewood Police Department
The Lakewood Police Department operates one 3DR Solo 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 Collegecityoflakewood.us
Eatonville Police Department
As of April 2024, the Eatonville Police Department operates 11 Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 15 days.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock SafetyThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer
Puyallup Police Department
As of April 2024, the Puyallup Police Department operates two Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 30 days.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock SafetyThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer
Fife Police Department
The Fife Police Department uses Axon body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fife Police Department PolicyCity of Fife Facebook page
Buckley Police Department
In early 2022, the Buckley City Council signed a five-year contract with Axon for 12 body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Courier Herald
Fircrest Police Department
The Fircrest Police Department received $18,000 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase 9 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
DuPont Police Department
The DuPont Police Department obtained body-worn cameras in 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Suburban Times
Pierce County Police Department
Since 2008, the Pierce County Police Department has been using face recognition software at a cost of $6,500 a year.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): SeattlePiCounty Clerk
Puyallup Tribal Police Department
The Puyallup Tribal Police Department received funding to buy one automated license plate reader in 2017.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Governor's Office of Indian Affairs
Bonney Lake Police Department
The Bonney Lake Police Department has Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock Safety
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026