NAOMI BROCKWELL | SURVEILLANCE IN OUR STREETS
The short version: Naomi Brockwell tells Jennifer Barber that Arizona lawmakers are rubber-stamping ALPR and AI surveillance without grasping how mass tracking differs from targeted policing.
Our Take
Credit to Jennifer Barber and State 48 News for getting Naomi Brockwell on record about something we harp on constantly: the people voting to fund this infrastructure often don't understand what they're buying. A city council approves a Flock contract thinking it's a tool for solving specific crimes, not realizing they've just authorized a system that logs every car, every driver, every day, with no warrant and no crime required. That's the targeted-versus-mass surveillance distinction the interview hammers on, and it's the whole ballgame.
Arizona's experience with photo radar is instructive precedent. Communities there have fought automated enforcement for years, ripping out cameras, suing operators, revolting at the ballot box. License plate readers are the same bet dressed up in friendlier branding: safer streets, faster investigations, nothing to hide. But the database doesn't forget, the retention windows keep growing, and the AI layer Brockwell flags means these systems are increasingly making predictive judgments about you, not just recording where you drove.
If you want to know whether this is already parked on your street, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back the way Arizona residents have, our take-action page has the playbook for showing up at your next council meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Jen's Two Cents. | Jen & Friends Podcast, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.