Prescott, AZ Police Department ALPR Budget | April 27, 2026

Our Take

Credit to Jen's Two Cents on the Jen & Friends Podcast for actually sitting through a town budget meeting so the rest of us don't have to. That's the unglamorous work that keeps local surveillance programs honest, and it's exactly the kind of coverage this fight needs more of. In the clip, Prescott Police Chief Amy Bonney tells the council there's no line item for ALPR expansion this cycle, just funds to finish out the existing camera contract. Mayor Pro Tem Lois Fruhwirth, to her credit, pressed further and asked about drones and other 'eyes in the skies,' getting a flat 'no more growth' in response.

That answer is worth taking at face value, but also worth watching closely. 'No growth' in a budget proposal is not a policy commitment, an ordinance, or a binding limit — it's a one-year funding decision that can reverse the moment a new grant, state funds, or a change in council priorities comes along. Flock and other ALPR vendors are well practiced at expanding quietly through add-on riders, data-sharing agreements, or neighboring jurisdictions' networks that pull a town back into the surveillance web even without a fresh camera install. Prescott residents who want this pause to stick should be asking for it in writing: a public audit of existing camera locations, retention policy, and who can query the data, not just a budget line that says zero for now.

This is a template other towns should copy — not just celebrating a freeze, but demanding the receipts behind it. Check whether Prescott's existing cameras show up on our camera map, and if you want to push your own council toward real accountability instead of a quiet budget footnote, our take-action page has the tools to get started.