Scottsdale Police and Flock Safety
The short version: Flock's own promo video praises Scottsdale PD's drone-and-ALPR 'safety net,' but a company marketing its own product isn't the same as independent transparency.
Our Take
This one comes straight from Flock Safety's own channel, which is worth noting before you take the word 'transparent' at face value. A vendor's highlight reel about its own customer's deployment is marketing copy, not an audit. When Flock says Scottsdale is 'leading the way in transparent policing,' remember that the company selling the cameras, the drones, and the plate-reader network is also the one writing the press release about how well it's working.
The substance here matters more than the branding. Scottsdale is layering fixed PTZ cameras, ALPR feeds, and Drone as First Responder launches into a single surveillance net that follows people by face, plate, and now aerial footage in real time. 'Strong, clear policies' governing drone flights sound reassuring in a thirty-second clip, but policies are only as good as the public records requests, retention audits, and city council oversight that actually enforce them — none of which a promotional video can show you.
If you want to know whether a system like this is actually watching your neighborhood, don't rely on the company's sizzle reel. Check our map for documented ALPR locations near you, and if you want to push back on secretive deployments, our take-action page has concrete steps for getting real answers from your local department.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Flock, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.