Cave Creek terminates Flock camera agreement

By Jeff Wendt
Mail

The Town of Cave Creek has terminated its contract with Flock for its automated license plate reader system effective immediately, the town said on Wednesday.

“We’ve been looking at options since January from ending it completely to finding a good policy that would balance what law enforcement needed and at the same time protect our citizens’ concerns,” Town Manager Grady Miller said.

“In the end, we obviously saw that no policy would satisfy the public’s concerns or the council’s,” Miller added.
The decision followed careful consideration of resident concerns, policy limitations, and recent events related to the use of the Flock system.

The town staff, in consultation with the town attorney, originally sought to find a balance between improving law enforcement capabilities and protecting the privacy of residents. However, it became clear that any local policy or safeguards could not extend beyond the Town’s jurisdiction, as Flock’s networked design allows data to be shared and accessed by external law enforcement agencies.

The Town had planned to revisit the system at the September 15 Town Council meeting, with recommendations and potential policies for continued use. However, in light of several high-profile abuse cases reported locally and nationally, as well as a recent theft of a Flock camera at 32nd Street and Carefree Highway, Town staff determined it was in the best interest of the community to discontinue the system.

After that camera was stolen, the town removed the other three cameras for fear of the same thing happening to them, which cemented the decision to terminate the contract.

Miller said that no audits of the system have been conducted, and the town has no plans to conduct an audit following the cancellation.

“We didn’t cancel our policy just because other towns and cities around us are doing it,” Miller said, “We started considering canceling the contract when the abuse of the system was brought up.”

Miller said that town marshal Adam Stein was on board with the decision to end the contract. Stein and members of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office were the only people in Cave Creek that had access to the data from the reader system.

“We don’t own the cameras,” Miller said. “We leased the equipment from Flock.”

Miller said the town has no jurisdiction over the cameras that neighborhoods or private businesses might have.

Jeff Wendt
Reporter | Phoenix/Cave Creek

jwendt@iniusa.org

Meet Jeff
Jeff Wendt started at Independent Newsmedia in January 2023, after 25 years working for Gannett and The Arizona Republic. Started as a high school sports scoretaker, worked up to reporting high school sports and then became an associate high school sports editor in 2002. Also worked in the Design Studio as a copy editor.

Community: Jeff serves on the Board of Elders at his local church.

Education: Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication

Random fact: Attended Game 2 of the 2001 World Series.

Hobbies: Playing video games (yes still the kid in me), watching reality TV, playing poker.