Flock & ALPR Cameras in Columbia Heights, Minnesota
Volunteers have reported 15 automated license plate readers in and around Columbia Heights — cameras that log every passing plate with a time and location.
On the record · Contract Canceled
Columbia Heights is on the record here. Columbia Heights, MN terminated its Flock Safety contract covering 12 cameras. Cited reasons: Public backlash / privacy; Immigration / data-sharing fear; Audit / access transparency gaps.
Jurisdiction · by recorded street address
The 15 cameras counted on this page are every reader mapped within about 20 kilometres of Columbia Heights, so the count crosses municipal lines. By the street address recorded for each one, 6 of them sit inside Columbia Heights itself.
The rest sit in Minneapolis (7), Brooklyn Center (2).
3 of them name an operator in the record: Minneapolis Police Department (2), Hennepin County Sheriff's Office (1). 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.
No new reports near Columbia Heights in the last 30 days — checked hourly, last checked Oct 8, 06:28 UTC. Cameras only get on the map when someone looks: be the one.
Where the cameras are in Columbia Heights
The readers mapped around Columbia Heights break down as 12 Flock Safety, 2 Insight LPR, 1 Axis Communications. Named operators in the reports: Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. The first camera here was reported in Jun 2025; the most recent in Aug 2026.
- Northeast 37th Avenue — 3 readers
- 54th Avenue North — 2 readers
- 44th Avenue Northeast — 2 readers
- Central Avenue Northeast — 2 readers
- 40th Avenue Northeast — 1 reader
- North Fremont Avenue — 1 reader
- Reservoir Boulevard Northeast — 1 reader
- North Lyndale Avenue — 1 reader
- Northeast Lowry Avenue — 1 reader
- North Lowry Avenue — 1 reader
Columbia Heights MN PD and the sharing network
Per Flock’s own transparency portal, Columbia Heights MN PD runs 12 cameras of its own, has logged 81 plate-database searches, has captured 165,344 vehicle records. Its network connects to 58 other agencies — a plate read here can surface in searches far beyond city limits.
Connected agencies include: Anoka County MN SO, Anoka MN PD, Becker County MN SO, Belle Plaine MN PD, Blaine MN PD, Brooklyn Park MN PD, Champlin MN PD, Chisago County MN SO.
Columbia Heights in the Anoka County picture
Anoka County has 137 reported cameras county-wide and ranks #810 of 3,222 U.S. counties for cameras per resident. That’s across 367,095 residents and 2,400 road miles. By road density that is 0.06 cameras per road mile, in the top 10.8% of counties nationally.
Where contributors recorded what a camera watches, the split here is 12 traffic. Operators named on the record: Minneapolis Police Department (2), Hennepin County Sheriff's Office (1).
Camera activity around Columbia Heights, last 30 days
1 newly reported in our hourly change log for Columbia Heights. Latest change logged Aug 15, 2026.
What’s watching Columbia Heights
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 Columbia Heights — here’s where that data goes. Counts cover cameras reported closest to Columbia Heights (within ~20 km), so nearby towns share the same corridors. Spot one that’s missing? Report it on DeFlock.
The latest around Columbia Heights
What you can do in Columbia Heights
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 Columbia Heights
← All Minnesota cameras, counties & cities
Camera reports: the open-source DeFlock project. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY).