Flock & ALPR Cameras in Des Moines, Washington
Volunteers have reported 27 automated license plate readers in and around Des Moines — cameras that log every passing plate with a time and location.
Jurisdiction · by recorded street address
The 27 cameras counted on this page are every reader mapped within about 20 kilometres of Des Moines, so the count crosses municipal lines. By the street address recorded for each one, 14 of them sit inside Des Moines itself.
The rest sit in Kent (8), SeaTac (5).
22 of them name an operator in the record: Des Moines Police (8), Fred Meyer (4), Lowe's (3), Safeway (3), Des Moines WA Police Department (1), Kent Police (1), Normandy Park Police Department (1), SeaTac Police (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 Des Moines in the last 30 days — checked hourly, last checked Oct 7, 17:27 UTC. Cameras only get on the map when someone looks: be the one.
Where the cameras are in Des Moines
The readers mapped around Des Moines break down as 20 Flock Safety, 7 Rekor Systems. Named operators in the reports: Des Moines Police, Fred Meyer, Lowe's, Safeway, Kent Police. The first camera here was reported in Jun 2025; the most recent in Aug 2026.
- Pacific Highway South — 6 readers
- International Boulevard — 4 readers
- South 240th Street — 2 readers
- South 216th Street — 2 readers
- 25400 Block — 2 readers
- South 252nd Street — 2 readers
- South 227th Street — 1 reader
- South Kent Des Moines Road — 1 reader
- Marine View Drive South — 1 reader
- Military Road South — 1 reader
- 1st Place South — 1 reader
- 24th Avenue South — 1 reader
+ 3 more streets and roads mapped around Des Moines — all on the live map above.
Des Moines WA PD and the sharing network
Per Flock’s own transparency portal, Des Moines WA PD runs 15 cameras of its own, has logged 96 plate-database searches, has captured 235,969 vehicle records. Its network connects to 86 other agencies — a plate read here can surface in searches far beyond city limits.
Connected agencies include: Aberdeen WA PD, Adams County WA SO, Airway Heights WA PD, Arlington WA PD, Auburn WA PD, Benton County WA SO, Brewster WA PD, Centralia WA PD.
Des Moines in the King County picture
King County has 462 reported cameras county-wide and ranks #1,363 of 3,222 U.S. counties for cameras per resident. That’s across 2,262,713 residents and 10,773 road miles. By road density that is 0.04 cameras per road mile, in the top 14.9% of counties nationally.
Where contributors recorded what a camera watches, the split here is 7 traffic. Operators named on the record: Des Moines Police (8), Fred Meyer (4), Lowe's (3).
Camera activity around Des Moines, last 30 days
1 newly reported in our hourly change log for Des Moines. Latest change logged Aug 16, 2026.
What’s watching Des Moines
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 Des Moines — here’s where that data goes. Counts cover cameras reported closest to Des Moines (within ~20 km), so nearby towns share the same corridors. Spot one that’s missing? Report it on DeFlock.
The latest around Des Moines
What you can do in Des Moines
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 Des Moines
← All Washington cameras, counties & cities
Camera reports: the open-source DeFlock project. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY).