By admin 
CHANDLER, AZ (AZFamily) — The city of Chandler is discontinuing the use of dozens of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) due to an “anomaly” identified during a recent audit.
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City officials on Friday announced the decision to end the use of 40 fixed-camera ALPRs provided by Flock Group Inc., adding that the service will not be renewed.
“For the first time in three years, our routine audit process identified an anomaly in the use of the Flock system that could not be explained through standard police action,” the city said in a news release. “We are currently investigating to determine if the Flock system was used inappropriately, and if so, what discipline may be required.”
Flock Group Inc., which runs the license plate readers, told Arizona’s Family in a statement that it is disappointed with the decision but said this is the reason why there are auditing tools.
“Flock has built the only License Plate Reader system with tools like Audit Assistance that help police identify these internal issues. It’s why the public is becoming more aware of the rare cases of misuse; not because it never happened previously, but because we have now provided the tools that bring it to light,” the company said.
During a news conference Friday afternoon, Chandler Police Chief Bryan Chapman added that the investigation involved a member of the department, and that he became aware of the potential misuse on Thursday.
“I can just say that we have identified a potential misuse of the system by somebody in our organization,” Chief Chapman said. “And it is very early into it, and we don’t know all of the details.”
According to Chapman, about 200 members of the department had access to the Flock database, all of whom were specially trained before using it.
“But what I can tell you today is that all of the employees at the Chandler Police Department have had their access to the Flock system restricted, effective immediately,” he said.
Chief Chapman also said the privacy of the public, including Chandler residents, was not compromised, but he did not go into further specifics.
“I’m very comfortable with the safeguards that we have internally here with our policy training and systems of accountability,” he said. “However, I think this serves as an opportunity for us to address other issues and concerns and provide more of that to where others have a better level of comfort and transparency with the technology that we’re using.”
Flock cameras capture images of license plates and other vehicle details to aid law enforcement in solving crimes, and tens of thousands have been installed in cities around the country. But they’re not without controversy, with concerns about personal information stored in databases indefinitely.
“Flock cameras and automated license plate readers have been used wrongly in a number of ways,” says East Valley Unite co-director Nathan Taylortaft. “That’s what we’ve been warning about because we saw this coming and we didn’t want it to happen in Chandler.”
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In dozens of cases, police officers have been fired and charged following accusations that they misused the system to spy on their exes and others. This week, a North Carolina police officer was arrested for allegedly using Flock cameras dozens of times for personal use, including tracking her boyfriend’s ex-wife.
Chandler’s agreement with Flock began as a pilot program with 14 ALPRs in March 2024. The agreement was expanded to 40 cameras the following year.
A Flock spokesperson says the company can remotely deactivate the cameras when requested, and will work directly with Chandler to physically remove them.
“We have been in contact with the vendor about our desire to sunset this immediately,” Chief Chapman said. “However, it is on their timeline to take those down.”
Flagstaff and Sedona ended contracts with Flock last year. Earlier this week, Pinal County also decided not to renew its contract with the company.
Meanwhile, the ACLU of Arizona recently spoke against the use of Flock readers at ASU, with concerns that data is being shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
We are disappointed by the City of Chandler’s announcement about ending their use of Flock technology due to potential misuse. However, this situation underscores exactly why we created our robust auditing tools—tools that enabled Chandler to identify user abuse of the system, including the Audit Assistance feature that automatically flags patterns that may indicate misuse, including in this case.
As Chief Chapman stated, Chandler PD and the City are dedicated to public trust, transparency and accountability – and Flock has built the only License Plate Reader system with tools like Audit Assistance that help police identify these internal issues. It’s why the public is becoming more aware of the rare cases of misuse; not because it never happened previously, but because we have now provided the tools that bring it to light.
We are proud of the results of our partnership over the past three years in Chandler, and are confident that once the City has undertaken additional policy measures, we will be the best LPR vendor for their needs.
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