Tempe City Council hears from residents, police about possible ban on flock cameras

Our Take

Credit to David Chasanov for getting this on camera, because city council meetings like this one are where the Flock fight actually gets decided — not in press releases, but in the slow, unglamorous back-and-forth between residents and the police department that wants to keep its toys. Tempe considering an outright ban, rather than just a pause or an audit, is notable. Most cities that get this far into a Flock contract don't walk it back; they tweak a policy, promise an audit nobody reads, and move on. A real ban vote means someone on that council is actually listening to constituents instead of the sales pitch.

The police argument in these hearings is always the same script: solved crimes, recovered stolen cars, a vague appeal to safety that never quite grapples with who else sees the data, how long it's retained, or which agencies get to query it once it's in the system. Residents pushing back are usually the only ones in the room asking what happens when this network of plate readers gets handed over to ICE, a data broker, or an out-of-state investigator with zero accountability to Tempe taxpayers. That's the real debate hiding underneath the 'ban or not' headline.

If you're in Tempe or anywhere else watching your city council have this exact conversation, check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and use our take-action page to figure out how to actually show up before the vote, not after.