By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Four Valley police departments have acknowledged in the past week that officers misused license plate reader technology, also known as Flock Safety cameras.
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Two of those officers resigned, but according to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST), resigning does not necessarily prevent them from working in law enforcement again.
Chuck Miller, executive director of AZPOST, said a new agency would conduct a background check, and any misconduct would surface — but the hiring decision would ultimately rest with that agency.
“Yes, they could lateral to another agency in the state or maintain their certification and go work for a law enforcement agency outside of the state,” Miller said.
Notification requirements
By statute, each agency is required to notify AZPOST when an officer is involved in a misconduct investigation.
Miller said his agency had not yet seen any cases involving misuse of license plate reader cameras.
Of the four Valley cases, three involve misconduct. One officer faces a possible criminal violation. Miller said if that officer is charged criminally, the case would go before the full AZPOST Board, which could decide to impose discipline, although the officer could still retain their certification.
Miller said discipline is designed to change behavior.
Flock Safety responds
Flock Safety, the largest automatic license plate reader company, is in damage control.
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In an interview with CBS, Flock CEO Garrett Langley outlined new safeguards the company is putting in place. Those measures include requiring police departments to use the company’s AI audit assistance to help identify possible misuse, reducing data retention from 30 days to seven days and giving departments the option to limit how outside agencies can search their data.
“Of course we could have done more earlier, and we listen and learn, and we’ll continue to move forward,” Langley said.
On the question of data retention, Langley said the decision ultimately belongs to elected officials.
“We’ve evolved there. We always said we wanted local control. I think it’s up to our elected officials to decide how long is this data retained,” Langley said.
Flock misuse reports in the Valley:
- Officer placed on leave as Surprise pauses license plate reader program
- Chandler police officer resigns, admits to misusing Flock cameras
- Apache Junction officer resigns after misusing Flock cameras to track wife
- Goodyear police officer investigated for possible Flock camera misuse
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