Spokane County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Spokane 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
Airway Heights Police Department
The Airway Heights Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Urbanist
Liberty Lake Police Department
The Liberty Lake Police Department uses Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Urbanist
Spokane Police Department
The Spokane Police Department operates eight DJI drones and one Autel drone as of August 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Spokesman-ReviewKREM 2
The Spokane Police Department received a federal grant for gunshot detection technology in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Department of Justice
The Spokane Police Department upgraded its Axon body-worn cameras in 2019.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Spokesman-ReviewCity of Spokane
Spokane County Sheriff's Office
As of April 2024, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office operates 39 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 Spokane County Sheriff's Office uses Briefcam video analytics software.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Crosscut
The Spokane County Sheriff's Office began operating a real-time crime center in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The SpokesmanKREMSpokane County
The Spokane County Sheriff's Office Regional Air Support Unit operates two DJI drones as of 2018, 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.spokanecounty.org
The Spokane County Sheriff's Office has a voluntary camera registry program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KHQ
Cheney Police Department
The Cheney Police Department began using Axon body-worn cameras in 2022.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Cheney Free PressCheney Police Department Facebook
Spokane Valley Police Department
The Spokane Valley Police Department has a voluntary camera registry program
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KHQ
Eastern Washington University Police Department
The Eastern Washington University Police Department began using body-worn cameras in November 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Eastern Washington university website
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026