Tempe covers City Flock cameras, considers ban on ALPRs
The short version: Tempe hooded its own Flock ALPR cameras on Mill Avenue and is now weighing a full ban, a rare case of a city publicly second-guessing its own surveillance rollout.
Our Take
Credit to 12 News for catching this one: Tempe didn't just quietly shelve a vendor contract, it physically covered up its own city-owned Flock cameras on Mill Avenue while council members openly discuss banning ALPRs altogether. That's a notable reversal. Most of these systems get installed with a press release about stolen cars and then fade into the background, running 24/7 without a second public conversation. Tempe pulling the hood off its own enforcement priorities, even temporarily, is the kind of friction this technology almost never gets.
It also underscores something we keep repeating: these cameras don't just watch suspects, they watch everyone who drives past, logging plate, time, and location into a searchable database whether or not you've done anything wrong. When a city government itself pauses to ask whether that tradeoff is worth it, that's a signal other councils should be paying attention to, not just residents.
If you want to see what's already logging plates in your own town, check our camera map, and if Tempe's reconsideration makes you want to push your local council to do the same, our take-action page has the tools to get that conversation started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 12 News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.