Idaho
Bannock County
On record
Checked 16 Sept 2026- Technologies
- 3
- Systems
- 5
- Devices mapped
- 57
Bannock County, Idaho. Device data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), with community reporting via DeFlock. Open the full map →
Volunteers have mapped 57 devices in Bannock County, 56 of them license plate readers, and Flock Safety is the manufacturer recorded on 53. The map does not say who runs them: an operator is recorded on two of the 57. What the public record does say is that two agencies here bought plate readers, a city and a county, and that the larger of the two purchases was approved on one evening in December 2024.
We read the Board of County Commissioners’ minutes and meeting packets from January 2024 to date, Pocatello City Council agendas and packets for the decisions on this page, the Pocatello Police Department’s published plate reader policy and its service level report, and the 156-page briefing the department gave the City Council in August 2026.
Bannock County has no county police department. The Sheriff’s Office polices the unincorporated county and four small cities, and the two city departments in Pocatello and Chubbuck do the rest. That division is why most of what follows happened at a city council rather than at the county board.
The city’s plate readers
On 5 December 2024 the Pocatello City Council approved a contract with Flock Group, Inc. for 34 plate readers, and declared it a sole source purchase, meaning the work did not go out to bid. Three council members voted for it and one voted against. The money was already in the police department’s budget for the year, so nothing about the purchase required a separate appropriation.
The newspaper reported the price as about $102,000. The order form the department later handed the Council puts the contract total at $338,100 across three years. The city’s plate reader network has the documents, the audit figures and the policy.
The county’s plate readers
The Sheriff’s Office followed eight months later, on a much smaller scale. Its chief deputy brought Flock Safety packages to the Board of County Commissioners on 31 July 2025, asking for four solar-powered cameras with the City of Lava Hot Springs buying two more. The Board approved the order on 26 August 2025 and paid for it out of county operations. No price appears in the minutes. The Sheriff’s plate readers has what the record says.
Eleven drones
The Pocatello Police Department’s own service level report lists eleven functioning drones, ten pilots and 77 deployments during 2024. The report names examples of what those flights were for. Two of them were a protest in front of city hall and a vigil at Idaho State University. Eleven drones and 77 flights has the list.
A crime center inside a road safety grant
In May 2026 the City Council voted four to one to apply for a $25 million federal grant for post-crash care, part of a $31.6 million project. The application in the council’s packet proposes a real time crime center in the renovated police building, carrying live feeds from street and traffic cameras, tracking the location of officers and supporting drones. It also records, in passing, that the city already has video surveillance at major intersections through its Traffic Control Center. A real time crime center inside a traffic safety grant has the application.
The cameras the county put out to bid
In 2024 the Board bought security cameras for five county buildings through an open Invitation to Bid, splitting the award between two companies for $219,499 in total. It is the only camera purchase we found that went to competitive bidding in the county board record we read. Security cameras at five county buildings has the awards.
What we could not answer
We could not find a list of camera locations published by either the city or the county, and we could not find either of them naming the other agencies that can search its cameras.
The city’s written plate reader policy names no retention period. It defers to a city records retention schedule, and that schedule is not published beside it. The county’s Sheriff told the Board in August 2026 that the county keeps its data for seven days and that a usage policy exists; we could not find the policy published.
We have not read the Chubbuck City Council’s record. The city keeps its minutes and packets in a document repository that requires a sign-in, and its own council page asks residents who want minutes to contact the city clerk.
What's in use here
In 2024 the Board of County Commissioners put security cameras for five county sites out to competitive bid, split the award between two companies, and signed contracts worth $219,499. It is the one camera purchase in this county that went to open bidding.
In May 2026 the Pocatello City Council voted four to one to apply for a $25 million federal grant for post-crash care. The application proposes a real time crime center with live street and traffic camera feeds, officer location tracking and drone support.
In August 2025 the Board of County Commissioners approved a Flock Safety order for the Sheriff's Office, paid for out of county operations. The request was for four solar-powered cameras, with the City of Lava Hot Springs buying two more.
In December 2024 the Pocatello City Council approved 34 Flock Safety plate readers as a sole source purchase, three votes to one. The department's own audits record more than eight million plates read in a single month, and the contract runs to $338,100 over three years.
The Pocatello Police Department's own service level report lists eleven drones, ten pilots and 77 deployments in 2024. Two of the flights it names were over a protest outside city hall and a vigil at Idaho State University.
Who approves it
These systems were approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where they meet and how comment works.
Who runs it
The agency is the accountability unit: who voted, whose policy applies, and who answers a records request.
| Agency | Jurisdiction | Systems |
|---|---|---|
| Pocatello Police Department | City of Pocatello | 3 |
| Bannock County Sheriff's Office | Bannock County | 2 |
| Chubbuck Police Department | City of Chubbuck | 0 |
| 3 agencies on record. A jointly run system counts against each of its operators, so this column is not a county total. | ||
Cities
Trackers
Meetings, contracts, records
Nothing listed yet. The trackers launch here, and facts appear only with their sources.
How the inventory works →What you can do
Civic action
Show up
Public comment is open to any resident, and you do not have to be an expert to use it. The hub says what to expect in each room, how long you get to speak, and where to check the schedule before you go.
How to show up in Bannock County →Personal protection
Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
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