Flock & ALPR Cameras in National City, California
Volunteers have reported 141 automated license plate readers in and around National City — cameras that log every passing plate with a time and location.
Jurisdiction · by recorded street address
The 141 cameras counted on this page are every reader mapped within about 20 kilometres of National City, so the count crosses municipal lines. By the street address recorded for each one, 58 of them sit inside National City itself.
The rest sit in San Diego (82), Lincoln Acres (1).
78 of them name an operator in the record: San Diego Police Department (74), National City 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.
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No new reports near National City in the last 30 days — checked hourly, last checked Oct 8, 17:08 UTC. Cameras only get on the map when someone looks: be the one.
📷 13 new license plate readers just reported around National City, CA. Newly mapped by volunteers — see what's watching. #ALPR #Surveillance #NationalCity
Where the cameras are in National City
The readers mapped around National City break down as 68 Ubicquia, Inc., 60 Flock Safety, 7 of unrecorded make. Named operators in the reports: San Diego Police Department, National City Police Department. The first camera here was reported in Jul 2025; the most recent in Aug 2026.
- Euclid Avenue — 12 readers
- East Plaza Boulevard — 10 readers
- East 18th Street — 9 readers
- East Market Street — 8 readers
- Imperial Avenue — 8 readers
- Logan Avenue — 7 readers
- East 8th Street — 5 readers
- 47th Street — 5 readers
- South 47th Street — 5 readers
- Home Avenue — 4 readers
- South Euclid Avenue — 4 readers
- Division Street — 3 readers
+ 18 more streets and roads mapped around National City — all on the live map above.
National City CA PD and the sharing network
Per Flock’s own transparency portal, National City CA PD runs 91 cameras of its own, has logged 629 plate-database searches, has captured 817,824 vehicle records. Its network connects to 316 other agencies — a plate read here can surface in searches far beyond city limits.
Connected agencies include: Albany CA PD, Alhambra CA PD, Anaheim CA PD, Anderson CA PD, Angels Camp CA PD, Antioch CA PD, Arcadia CA PD, Atwater CA PD.
National City in the San Diego County picture
San Diego County has 1,252 reported cameras county-wide and ranks #781 of 3,222 U.S. counties for cameras per resident. That’s across 3,282,782 residents and 11,651 road miles. By road density that is 0.11 cameras per road mile, in the top 4.1% of counties nationally.
Where contributors recorded what a camera watches, the split here is 69 town, 49 traffic, 5 public. Operators named on the record: San Diego Police Department (74), National City Police Department (4).
Camera activity around National City, last 30 days
30 newly reported, 1 removed in our hourly change log for National City. Latest change logged Aug 29, 2026.
What’s watching National City
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 National City — here’s where that data goes. Counts cover cameras reported closest to National City (within ~20 km), so nearby towns share the same corridors. Spot one that’s missing? Report it on DeFlock.
The latest around National City
- 9 new license plate readers reported around National City, CA
- 13 new license plate readers reported around National City, CA
- 4 new license plate readers reported around National City, CA
- 2 new license plate readers reported around National City, CA
What you can do in National City
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 National City
← All California cameras, counties & cities
Camera reports: the open-source DeFlock project. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY).