Paradise Valley Police Chief Freeman Carney told members of the Advisory Committee on Public Safety on Oct. 1 that he continues to support the town’s use of automated license plate reader cameras.
Carney spoke to the committee about the town’s ALPR system and said he wanted members to have information they could use when discussing the cameras with neighbors who may have questions or concerns based on information circulating online.
The cameras capture images of vehicles and license plates and can provide information to officers during investigations. The system does not use facial recognition or track people, Carney said during the meeting; the cameras are only capturing license plates and logging them for possible future use.
Carney told the committee the technology has been useful to Paradise Valley police and that he supports continuing to use it as a public safety tool.
The cameras have been used to assist investigations involving crimes including burglaries, kidnappings and stolen vehicles, Carney said.
“It’s just been a big, great tool for us. It’s one of the best tools we have,” he said.
Carney and Council Member Scott Moore both acknowledged officers at departments across the country have misused ALPR technology.
“There’s officers throughout the country that have misused it,” Carney said. “It’s a small percentage … they ruin it.”
Moore said the reported misuse often involves male officers abusing their access to the technology to monitor women in their personal lives, turning a law enforcement tool into a means of abusing their authority in personal relationships.
“And it’s usually the same thing,” Moore said. “It’s for relationship stuff.”
PVPD conducts weekly audits of its Flock system to review activity and ensure searches are being conducted for legitimate law enforcement purposes and has not found any misuse, Carney said.
“If we find that here, we’re gonna address it. We do weekly audits on our system to make sure people are using it appropriately,” he said. “If someone tases somebody when they shouldn’t have, we don’t take tasers away from everybody. We discipline that officer and address it with that incident.”
Carney also told the committee he and other police chiefs had pushed the Arizona Legislature to make misuse of ALPR data a felony, similar to penalties for misuse of other law enforcement databases.
Arizona lawmakers considered Senate Bill 1111 in 2026, which would have established statewide rules for ALPR use and made intentional misuse of ALPR images or data a Class 6 felony. The bill did not make it out of the Senate.
“It should be a felony to misuse the system,” Carney said. “It should be a crime.”
Moore said he is not aware of any council members who oppose the use of ALPRs in Paradise Valley and, as far as he knows, the council is not currently planning to revisit the program.
Moore said he has personally seen the benefits of the technology after his home was burglarized. After he noticed a vehicle leaving his home that he suspected was connected to the burglary, investigators were able to use ALPRs to track the vehicle through Paradise Valley and into Scottsdale.
Moore said the experience reinforced his support for the cameras and their role in helping police follow investigative leads across jurisdictions.
Paradise Valley has used license plate reader technology for more than a decade.
As of Aug. 18, the town has Flock cameras installed at 26 intersections throughout Paradise Valley, according to Kelly Ingram, the department’s Public Information Officer.
The town does not automatically share its ALPR database with other municipalities, according to PVPD.
Community: I live in central Phoenix and my writing focuses on Fountain Hills education, and the Paradise Valley and Scottsdale communities.
Education: I graduated from Arizona State University in May 2026 with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. My studies focused on writing and visual story-telling.
Random Fact: Growing up I had over 10 pets including 6 cats, 1 dog, 2 hermits crabs, and too many fish to count!
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