The recent release of public records in Yakima – an eastern Washington city of 97,300, some 1,283 miles away – raises a gaggle of questions about Scottsdale’s use of the Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) system.
Two weeks after a Progress story on critics of Scottsdale’s Flock program, a Tucson paper doubled down, citing recently-released data.
The headline of a Jan. 21 Arizona Mirror article:
“Scottsdale PD’s massive use of AI license plate tracking cameras raises privacy concerns.”
According to a subheading of the Tucson story, “Scottsdale police conducted 12,527 searches of nationwide license plate database, nearly 1-in-4 queries by Az agencies.”
The Mirror story noted it based its reporting on records released by the Yakima Police Department that included Arizona police agencies’ Flock searches from December 2024 to mid-May 2025.
The website UnflockScottsdale.com – which states its mission is to “Stop Scottsdale’s Flock A.I. Surveillance Program” – responded to the Tucson paper’s story:
“That the city queried Flock’s LPR database more than 12,000 times in a six-month period is alarming, but not surprising. It also contradicts the City’s previous statements that it uses Flock LPRs in an alert-only capacity and demonstrates Scottsdale’s ability to use Flock to retroactively geolocate citizens, residents and visitors.”
Officer Aaron Bolin of the Scottsdale Police Department said that UnflockScottsdale statement is inaccurate.
“Scottsdale PD utilizes available technology and investigative tools, including Flock, to support active investigations and respond to in-progress calls for service,” Bolin said.
“Scottsdale PD does not use Flock LPR technology as a constant surveillance tool or to actively track citizens, residents, or visitors as they go about their lives.”
And, Bolin stressed, SPD uses Flock information “to find timely, critical information that helps identify suspects, locate vehicles involved in crimes and solve cases more efficiently. The information is always tied directly to a call for service we are responding to or an active investigation our detectives are working to solve.”
Scottsdale Police track how the system is used via “an audit trail that logs all access and searches.
“The system is used in accordance with policy and applicable laws.”
Asked by the Progress to comment on the accuracy of the Mirror story, which quotes him extensively, Bolin noted it was based on the Yakima public records release, which “likely does not have the most recent information.
“I would suggest you also check haveibeenflocked.com,” Bolin added, “and check our numbers against other agencies’ queries.”
Scottsdale tops searches
According to the website Bolin cited, Scottsdale averages 55.6 Flock searches per day.
According to haveibeenflocked’s Scottsdale section, “We have seen a total of 51,499 searches for this agency, performed by 228 persons over 1,229 days between Aug. 1, 2022, and Dec. 11, 2025.”
Averaging 54.2 searches per day, the Gilbert Police Department was just behind Scottsdale on haveibeenflocked.com – though the date searches were different.
According to the website, in Gilbert “We have seen a total of 39,396 searches for this agency, performed by 145 persons over 950 days between June 9, 2023 and Jan. 14, 2026.”
Haveibeenflocked.com also tracked an average 47 searches per day by the Phoenix Police Department, again with different dates:
“We have seen a total of 49,781 searches for this agency, performed by 211 persons over 1,183 days between Oct. 19, 2002, and Jan. 14, 2026.”
That comes out to around 8 searches per day less than Scottsdale.
With around 1.6 million people, Phoenix is roughly six times larger than Scottsdale; geographically, Phoenix is about three times larger than Scottsdale.
Haveibeenflocked data on the Arizona Department of Public Safety shows 117,070 searches by DPS between Oct. 6, 2023 and Jan. 14, 2026.
That averages 149 searches per day – around three times the average cited for Scottsdale.
Based on the Yakima parameters, the Scottsdale and AZDPS Flock searches were much closer:
“Scottsdale Police Department conducted 12,527 searches of the database — roughly 22% of the total searches conducted by Arizona agencies found in the data,” according to the Mirror story.
“The Arizona Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state’s freeways and highways, conducted 16,481.”
SPD and AZDPS combined for “half of all Arizona searches of Flock’s system during that time period,” the story continued.
Plate readers
Flock Safety produces a license-plate reader program used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies, including the Scottsdale Police Department. The Atlanta-based company says its “license plate recognition cameras can be placed almost anywhere to capture detailed data about license plates and vehicles used to commit crimes, enabling quick and efficient action.”
Bolin said SPD “utilizes available technology,” including Flock, “to support active investigations and respond to in-progress calls to service.
“The system provides timely and critical information that assists in identifying suspects, locating vehicles involved in crimes, and solving cases more efficiently,” Bolin said.
He noted SPD has a Real Time Crime Center and Drone as a First Responder “that both utilize Flock systems when providing information to officers responding to calls for service.
“The department prioritizes the use of ALPR technology for crimes against persons and property, including but not limited to thefts, burglaries, assaults and other serious offenses,” Bolin noted.
“Our goal is to leverage technology in a way that enhances public safety while respecting privacy and civil liberties.”
As there have been cases around the country alleging misuse of the system, Bolin was asked about Flock security.
“Scottsdale PD has implemented safeguards to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of the Flock system,” Bolin said.
“Each query made in the system requires a valid case or incident number, and access is restricted to sworn officers and designated operational support personnel. Supervisors oversee usage to ensure compliance with department policy and investigative standards.”
SPD, he added, has “an official use agreement with Flock Safety, which outlines the terms of use, data access protocols, and retention policies. We remain committed to using this technology solely for legitimate law enforcement purposes and in accordance with applicable laws and departmental guidelines.”
Flock of critics
Councilwoman Mary McAllen tried to bring up Flock cameras at the Nov. 3 meeting on police photo enforcement cameras.
“I’ve received probably over 100 emails about it,” she said.
As a Progress story last month noted, some Scottsdale critics of police technology are bashing “cop cams” – not body cameras worn by police, but “eyes in the sky” positioned at intersections and other public areas.
Scottsdale technicians and detectives used Flock to take down a murder suspect, “crime tourists” and an armed car thief.
Even so, the program has a flock of critics.
Eric Fowler, who identified himself as the chair of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party, spoke out passionately at a November Scottsdale City Council meeting.
Fowler derided Flock as “AI mass surveillance network, a system that this council never voted on, never held a hearing about, and apparently never knew existed.”
Calling the Flock system “mass surveillance of innocent people without warrants,” Fowler concluded:
“I’m demanding that you terminate this contract immediately.”
Merissa Hamilton also spoke against the Flock program.
“I have great concerns about this, and I think that instead of saying that to promote the responsible and transparent use of these license plate readers and photo radar, that that’s kind of an oxymoron, there is no way to have responsible or transparent use of these devices.”
This is hardly just a local issue, as the American Civil Liberties Union also has problems with Flock.
“The cloud automatic license plate reader company Flock is building a dangerous nationwide mass-surveillance infrastructure, as we have been pointing out for several years now,” according to the ACLU’s website …”
The ACLU complains Flock “allows police to do nationwide searches of the resulting database, giving even the smallest-town police chief access to an enormously powerful driver-surveillance tool.”
The system is secure, the company insists:
“Flock Safety is dedicated to ensuring our customers’ privacy by safeguarding all data and information collected through our devices.”
Maybe, but …
According to an Aug. 17, 2024, story in the Wichita Eagle: “A Sedgwick, Kansas, police chief used Flock Safety license plate readers to track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend’s vehicles 228 times over four-plus years.”
While that case is an outlier, the “deflock” group (deflock.me) complains Flock’s cameras “collect data on millions of vehicles regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime.
“These systems are marketed as indispensable tools to fight crime, but they ignore the powerful tools police already have to track criminals, such as cell phone location data, creating a loophole that doesn’t require a warrant.”
According to Flock Safety’s website, Scottsdale uses Flock as a high-tech solution for an age-old problem:
“Declining interest in law enforcement careers led to staffing concerns. Yet, the city’s status as a major event hub and hotspot for organized retail theft meant there was no room for compromise on safety. The police needed to ensure large crowds’ safety, effectively allocate resources and weed out false 911 reports.”
According to the company, the SPD’s Flock-provided “tech arsenal” includes license-plate reading cameras; PTZ (plan, tilt, zoom) cameras; a video management system to integrate third-party live cameras and into Flock’s operating system; and “Privately owned Flock Safety LPR cameras and approximately 4,000 live video streams from local entities…
“All these devices feed into Scottsdale’s Real-Time Crime Center via FlockOS.”
According to Flock, the system helps Scottsdale officers “solve crimes faster, allocate resources efficiently and improve public safety.”
Bolin confirmed the accuracy of Flock’s description of its SPD services. Bolin added the “approximately 4,000 live video streams” referenced by Flock come from the Scottsdale Unified School District and businesses that have agreements with the SPD.
The Progress asked Scottsdale Police Chief Joe LeDuc to respond to critics of Scottsdale’s use of Flock license plate readers, or LPR.
“Regarding the claim that Flock LPRs are an ‘AI mass surveillance network’ implemented without oversight or in violation of constitutional protections, that characterization is incorrect,” LeDuc said.
“Scottsdale’s license plate reader cameras are a targeted public safety tool.”
The annual cost for the Flock system is $372,050 – and well worth it, LeDuc insisted.
“The public safety benefits of license plate reader technology far outweigh its cost because it allows law enforcement to prevent harm, not just respond to it after the fact,” LeDuc said.
The 85 LPR cameras across the city “capture images of license plates and limited vehicle descriptors on public roadways only,” LeDuc said.
“They do not identify people, use facial recognition, or track lawful activity,” LeDuc stressed.
License plate information, according to the chief of police, “is compared against specific, lawfully established alert lists tied to stolen vehicles, wanted persons, missing persons, or active criminal investigations.”
Flock searches
Averages of various agencies on haveibeenflocked.com (data as of Jan. 26):
Arizona Department of Public Safety: 201 Flock searches per day.
Chandler Police Department: 23 Flock searches per day.
Gilbert Police Department: 54 Flock searches per day.
Glendale Police Department: 19 Flock searches per day.
Goodyear Police Department: 31 Flock searches per day.
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office: 19 Flock searches per day.
Mesa Police Department: 18 Flock searches per day.
Peoria Police Department: 16 Flock searches per day.
Phoenix Police Department: 47 Flock searches per day.
Queen Creek Police Department: 23 Flock searches per day.
Scottsdale Police Department: 56 Flock searches per day.
Tempe Police Department: 47 Flock searches per day.