Flock & ALPR Cameras in El Cerrito, California
Volunteers have reported 15 automated license plate readers in and around El Cerrito — cameras that log every passing plate with a time and location.
On the record · Contract Rejected
El Cerrito is on the record here. The El Cerrito city council voted not to renew its contract with Flock; the cameras will be turned off on June 7. "company not negotiating in good faith." "my biggest concern is the federal government could access the data"
Jurisdiction · by recorded street address
The 15 cameras counted on this page are every reader mapped within about 20 kilometres of El Cerrito, so the count crosses municipal lines. By the street address recorded for each one, 0 of them sit inside El Cerrito itself.
The rest sit in Richmond (15).
4 of them name an operator in the record: Richmond Police Department (4). The operator is who runs the camera, which is not always the local government.
Source: community-mapped camera data (OpenStreetMap, ODbL), with addresses resolved by Nominatim.
Need this city’s camera data? Custom extracts are free for researchers, journalists and advocates. Ask for it.
- Sep 12 Flock Safety camera newly reported
Newly reported by volunteers — cameras may have been up long before someone mapped them.
Where the cameras are in El Cerrito
The readers mapped around El Cerrito break down as 14 Flock Safety. Named operators in the reports: Richmond Police Department. The first camera here was reported in Sep 2025; the most recent in Sep 2026.
- Carlson Boulevard — 7 readers
- Cutting Boulevard — 2 readers
- Pierce Street — 1 reader
- Central Avenue — 1 reader
- Rydin Road — 1 reader
- Breakers Boulevard — 1 reader
- San Luis Street — 1 reader
El Cerrito CA PD and the sharing network
Per Flock’s own transparency portal, El Cerrito CA PD runs 40 cameras of its own, has logged 128 plate-database searches, has captured 357,391 vehicle records. Its network connects to 331 other agencies — a plate read here can surface in searches far beyond city limits.
Connected agencies include: Alameda CA PD, Alameda County CA SO, Albany CA PD, Alhambra CA PD, Amador County CA Sheriff's Office, Anaheim CA PD, Anderson CA PD, Angels Camp CA PD.
El Cerrito in the Contra Costa County picture
Contra Costa County has 436 reported cameras county-wide and ranks #803 of 3,222 U.S. counties for cameras per resident. That’s across 1,161,458 residents and 4,683 road miles. By road density that is 0.09 cameras per road mile, in the top 5.1% of counties nationally.
Where contributors recorded what a camera watches, the split here is 13 traffic. Operators named on the record: Richmond Police Department (4).
Camera activity around El Cerrito, last 30 days
5 newly reported, 22 removed in our hourly change log for El Cerrito. Latest change logged Sep 11, 2026.
What’s watching El Cerrito
These aren’t red-light cameras. Automated license plate readers like Flock Safety’s photograph every plate that passes, log the time and place, and store it in a searchable database that’s often shared far beyond El Cerrito — here’s where that data goes. Counts cover cameras reported closest to El Cerrito (within ~20 km), so nearby towns share the same corridors. Spot one that’s missing? Report it on DeFlock.
The latest around El Cerrito
- 10 license plate readers reported removed near El Cerrito, CA
- 2 license plate readers reported removed near El Cerrito, CA
- 6 license plate readers reported removed near El Cerrito, CA
- 4 license plate readers reported removed near El Cerrito, CA
What you can do in El Cerrito
Ask who approved these cameras, how long plate data is kept, and who it’s shared with. File a public records request, raise it at a council meeting, and see the full playbook on Take Action. Fighting this locally? Join or start a chapter and we’ll amplify you.
Not sure what one looks like? See photographs of installed cameras before you go looking.
Cameras near El Cerrito
← All California cameras, counties & cities
Camera reports: the open-source DeFlock project. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY).