Flock & ALPR Cameras in Ankeny, Iowa
Volunteers have reported 12 automated license plate readers in and around Ankeny — cameras that log every passing plate with a time and location.
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Every record for this area on the Docket → · nothing is ever deleted.
No new reports near Ankeny in the last 30 days — checked hourly, last checked Oct 8, 06:26 UTC. Cameras only get on the map when someone looks: be the one.
Where the cameras are in Ankeny
The readers mapped around Ankeny break down as 12 Flock Safety. Named operators in the reports: Ankeny Police Department. The first camera here was reported in Mar 2025; the most recent in Aug 2026.
- East 1st Street — 2 readers
- West 1st Street — 1 reader
- Northwest 36th Street — 1 reader
- North Ankeny Boulevard — 1 reader
- Northwest State Street — 1 reader
- Southeast Oralabor Road — 1 reader
- Southwest State Street — 1 reader
- Northeast Delaware Avenue — 1 reader
- Northeast 36th Street — 1 reader
- Southeast Delaware Avenue — 1 reader
- Northeast 126th Avenue — 1 reader
Ankeny IA PD and the sharing network
Per Flock’s own transparency portal, Ankeny IA PD runs 16 cameras of its own, has logged 341 plate-database searches, has captured 424,069 vehicle records. Its network connects to 140 other agencies — a plate read here can surface in searches far beyond city limits.
Ankeny in the Polk County picture
Polk County has 161 reported cameras county-wide and ranks #951 of 3,222 U.S. counties for cameras per resident. That’s across 497,441 residents and 2,286 road miles. By road density that is 0.07 cameras per road mile, in the top 8.3% of counties nationally.
Where contributors recorded what a camera watches, the split here is 12 traffic. Operators named on the record: Ankeny Police Department (10).
What’s watching Ankeny
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 Ankeny — here’s where that data goes. Counts cover cameras reported closest to Ankeny (within ~20 km), so nearby towns share the same corridors. Spot one that’s missing? Report it on DeFlock.
The latest around Ankeny
- Ankeny holds steady on Flock cameras for now
- 2 license plate readers reported removed near Ankeny, IA
- On the agenda: Ankeny Council Action Planning Session — public safety camera (Jan 21)
What you can do in Ankeny
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 Ankeny
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Camera reports: the open-source DeFlock project. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY).