Chandler ends Flock program amid internal investigation

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Dozens, if not hundreds, of Valley residents had planned to come to the Aug. 13 Chandler City Council meeting as a decision was made on whether to extend a contract with Flock Safety.

That hearing won’t take place.

On Aug. 7, Chandler Police Chief Bryan Chapman called a news conference to take questions about the city’s sudden decision to end its relationship with Flock Safety.

Chapman said suspected misuse or unauthorized use of the Flock System “within our department” led to the decision to immediately and not pursue the City Council’s backing for a contract renewal with Flock, which was scheduled to be heard Aug. 13.

“For the first time in three years, our routine audit process identified an anomaly in the use of the Flock system that could not be explained through standard police action,” Chapman said. “This is exactly what our audit safeguards are designed to do, catch irregular activity so it can be reviewed and addressed. We are currently investigating to determine if the Flock system was used inappropriately, and if so, what discipline may be required.”

Flock’s automated license plate reader camera and data system had become the center of intense debate about how much and in what places and circumstances people should be surveiled in the city and how license-plate and vehicle images are stored, secured and used digitally.

Council decided, in front of a packed chamber filled mostly with Flock opponents, May 21 to push back its decision until July. Shortly before Council’s only regular meetings of July, the city announced the decision was moved to Aug. 13.

“It’s important to underscore that our own accountability systems caught this anomaly,” Chapman said. “This demonstrates that those systems are working as intended. Nobody’s privacy was compromised as part of this misuse. Nonetheless, any misuse of the Flock system is a matter we take extremely seriously, and our investigation is ongoing.”

During one of the mid-May hearings about the extension, Michelle Denton, the Chandler Police Department’s communications technology manager, said Flock was chosen back in 2024 using a competitive bid process. It’s unclear whether there would be more such companies making and implementing such technology in 2026 or 2027.

After Chandler Police experienced what Chapman describes as success with an initial network of 14 Flock cameras, installed in 2024, he came back to Council in early 2025 and asked for money to install 26 more, which it approved with little discussion.

Council member O.D. Harris, the lone “no” vote on the May decision to postpone the vote on the extension, said he and other officials are more informed now about problems with Flock, license-plate readers and the entire business model of collecting such data.

Chapman also said the department will strengthen safeguards regarding the future use of automated license plate readers’ cameras and data, to protect any use of Chandler’s data within the system. That could include policy revision, additional audit procedures and reporting requirements.

“If this protection package is in place and approved by City Council in a public, transparent process, we may go out for a request of proposals to evaluate vendors who can maintain our high standards,” Chapman said.

Though Chandler’s access to the system will be terminated, the 40 fixed-camera readers and poles are the property of Flock. He said the removal of that equipment will be performed “as quickly as possible by the vendor,” and that Chandler Police no longer have access to the system, though he wasn’t clear on how fast and with what encouragement Flock would be “hooding” (covering) or dismantling the cameras.

Chandler’s decision comes two days after Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple told his Board of Supervisors he won’t renew his department’s contract with Flock Safety. Flagstaff, Sedona, Tempe and South Tucson have also gone in a direction away from Flock.

Nathan Taylortaft, a local teen activist and one of dozens who encouraged the city in May to drop the program, was at the Aug. 7 news conference. He said he vowed to bring people to Council’s Aug. 13 meeting anyway, to speak publicly about the need for the city to pass an ordinance banning such cameras.

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.  Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.