The Ankeny Brief
The Ankeny Police Department does not operate automated speed or red-light enforcement cameras. Its Traffic Unit, a sergeant and two officers, handles enforcement in person: targeted projects on speeding, impaired and distracted driving, and seat belts, plus follow-up on neighborhood traffic complaints. If a camera in Ankeny is watching the road, it's a Flock license-plate reader used for investigations, not a device that clocks your speed.
It almost certainly came from Des Moines, which operates fixed and mobile speed cameras. Check the return address and issuing city on the citation. Ankeny doesn't send automated traffic tickets.
Automated traffic enforcement used to be a patchwork across Iowa. That changed with House File 2681, signed in 2024 and effective July 1, 2024. The law requires any city that wants speed cameras on its roads to get a permit from the Iowa DOT, and it caps the fines cities can charge.
Ankeny wasn't among the cities that put automated speed cameras into service. For red-light cameras specifically, Iowa has no dedicated statute, and Ankeny operates none either way.
They look similar on a pole but do completely different jobs. We break down Ankeny's license-plate cameras: what they capture, how long the data's kept, and the privacy debate, in the full Flock cameras guide.
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No. Ankeny doesn't use automated speed cameras, so any camera-based citation you receive came from a different city's program.
If it's in Ankeny, it's a Flock license-plate reader. It doesn't measure speed and doesn't issue tickets. It's an investigative tool, covered in our Flock guide.
It's possible, but under the 2024 law the city would first need Iowa DOT approval for specific locations. As of now, Ankeny operates none.
Flock cameras in Ankeny · Crime maps & public records · Ankeny by the numbers
No. The Ankeny Police Department does not use automated speed cameras. Traffic enforcement in Ankeny is done by officers: its Traffic Unit is a sergeant and two officers, not by automated camera systems. This is different from Des Moines, which does operate speed cameras.
No. Ankeny does not operate red-light cameras. If you receive an automated traffic ticket in the metro, it is from another city's system, most commonly Des Moines, not from Ankeny.
No. They are different systems. Ankeny does use Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs), which log passing plates for investigations, but those do not measure speed and do not issue tickets. Speed and red-light cameras are automated traffic-enforcement devices that Ankeny does not use.
A 2024 Iowa law (HF 2681, effective July 1, 2024) requires cities to get Iowa DOT approval for automated traffic enforcement and caps fines. The DOT reviewed 348 requested camera locations from 28 jurisdictions and approved 154. Ankeny was not among the cities that put automated speed cameras into service.
With officers. Ankeny PD's Traffic Unit runs targeted enforcement projects for speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving, and seat-belt compliance, and responds to traffic-complaint requests in specific neighborhoods.
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