Flock & ALPR Cameras in Grimes, Iowa
Volunteers have reported 14 automated license plate readers in and around Grimes — cameras that log every passing plate with a time and location.
Jurisdiction · by recorded street address
The 14 cameras counted on this page are every reader mapped within about 20 kilometres of Grimes, so the count crosses municipal lines. By the street address recorded for each one, 0 of them sit inside Grimes itself.
The rest sit in Johnston (9), Urbandale (5).
11 of them name an operator in the record: Johnston Police Department (6), Urbandale Police Department (5). 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 Grimes in the last 30 days — checked hourly, last checked Oct 7, 15:27 UTC. Cameras only get on the map when someone looks: be the one.
Where the cameras are in Grimes
The readers mapped around Grimes break down as 14 Flock Safety. Named operators in the reports: Johnston Police Department, Urbandale Police Department. The first camera here was reported in May 2025; the most recent in Aug 2026.
- Northwest 70th Avenue — 3 readers
- Meredith Drive — 2 readers
- Northwest 62nd Avenue — 2 readers
- Essex Drive — 2 readers
- Northwest Urbandale Drive — 1 reader
- Aurora Avenue — 1 reader
- 128th Street — 1 reader
- Northwest 100th Street — 1 reader
- Northwest 106th Street — 1 reader
Grimes 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 14 traffic. Operators named on the record: Johnston Police Department (6), Urbandale Police Department (5).
Camera activity around Grimes, last 30 days
1 newly reported in our hourly change log for Grimes. Latest change logged Aug 13, 2026.
What’s watching Grimes
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 Grimes — here’s where that data goes. Counts cover cameras reported closest to Grimes (within ~20 km), so nearby towns share the same corridors. Spot one that’s missing? Report it on DeFlock.
The latest around Grimes
- 2 new license plate readers reported around Grimes, IA
- Grant funding to provide license plate reader in Grimes County
What you can do in Grimes
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 Grimes
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Camera reports: the open-source DeFlock project. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY).