Arizona’s Family Investigates Podcast: Flock Fallout: Valley Police Caught Tracking You
The short version: Arizona's Family's investigation found officers at four Valley police departments misusing Flock ALPR data, proving these networks are only as trustworthy as the cops who can quietly query them.
Our Take
Credit to Amy Cutler and Zach Prelutsky at Arizona's Family for doing the unglamorous work of pulling public records and getting four separate Valley departments to admit officers misused Flock Safety's license plate reader system. This is exactly the kind of local accountability journalism that keeps these programs honest, because Flock and its police customers rarely audit themselves until someone forces the issue.
Every time this story repeats — and it has repeated in cities across the country — the pattern is the same: a system pitched as a tool for solving violent crime ends up used to track exes, run plates for personal curiosity, or settle personal scores. The company's own audit logs are the only thing standing between 'targeted investigation' and 'open surveillance database,' and that's a thin line when the people doing the auditing are the same departments benefiting from unrestricted access.
If you live in one of these Valley communities, or anywhere else, check our camera map to see what's already watching your commute, and visit take action for ways to push your city council toward real oversight before your local department becomes the next cautionary headline.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Arizona’s Family (3TV / CBS 5), published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.