Chandler council hears more Flock camera feedback

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

The Chandler City Council and its police chief have a thorough understanding of how its most vocal residents feel about license plate reader technology after Thursday's meeting.

Fifteen Valley residents — all but three from Chandler — signed up and spoke during the public input portion of council’s Aug. 13 regular meeting, and all were opposed to the city using license plate readers of any kind.

Even with no discussion item on the Aug. 13 agenda, residents were undeterred by the city’s Aug. 7 decision to terminate its contract with Flock Safety. In fact, since the Aug. 13 meeting was tentatively the date when the Flock contract was up for renewal, most speakers took to the microphone anyway — to advocate for going further.

Most of the Aug. 13 speakers asked council to pass an ordinance banning license plate reader technology from being used by city staff.

“Take down Flock and replace it with freedom,” Eric Fowler told the council. “You swore an oath to defend the Constitution. Honor it. The chief has signaled interest in another system with tighter guardrails. Swapping vendors doesn’t cure a Constitutional violation.”

Fowler, a Chandler resident and chair of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party, said a draft ordinance was created by his committee in conjunction with the ACLU.

Chandler High School student and activist Nathan Taylortaft was among dozens May 21 to  convince council to then postpone its decision about a new Flock contract. Taylortaft spoke again Aug. 13, this time with a thick paper copy in hand of what he stated was related to the proposed ordinance Fowler mentioned.

Councilmember O.D. Harris, attending the meeting by phone, asked if any of the 40 Flock cameras that haven’t been removed yet could be covered in some way, so as no longer to be able to record visual data.

City Manager John Pombier replied he’d get back to Harris by Tuesday, Aug. 18, with a plan on “how to accomplish that goal.”

The three-quarters-full council chamber became louder and skeptical when Pombier initially said he wasn’t sure if city staff knew all the current locations of the Flock cameras. Mayor Kevin Hartke urged the crowd to not interrupt and allow for dialogue along the dais, threatening to clear the chamber if there was another outburst.

The meeting was held a few hours after a Chandler Police news release was emailed to local media, stating an officer admitted to misusing the Flock system — an infraction that apparently triggered the department dropping the system completely, and which only became known to Chief Bryan Chapman on Aug. 6.

Chapman called a news conference Aug. 7 to announce his department had found “an anomaly” in how the Flock system was being used and that not only would there be an investigation, the department no longer has access to the system and Flock had been directed to deactivate and remove all 40 cameras in Chandler as soon as possible.

One speaker said with Chandler, Apache Junction, Goodyear and Surprise all having announced some type of Flock misuse within the past few weeks, the system seems to put officers at risk as well as civilians.

“We must pass a no-ALPRs (automated license plate readers) ordinance and fully respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for the protection of rank-and-file police officers,” Yegor Zenkov said. “Chandler PD, today, got caught up in a misfiring Flock marketing campaign .... they have coordinated the release of an audit tool that is magically finding one single misuse of Flock in every single police department. And with the rug pulled out from under them as they’ve affected Flock’s bottom line, they are in violation of Fourth Amendment rights and are potentially up for dismissal.”

Several Aug. 13 speakers urged police and the city to be as aggressive as is practical in ensuring Flock removes the cameras quickly.

Councilmember Matt Orlando told the Chandler Independent after the Aug. 13 meeting that the cameras can probably be hooded or removed quickly if the city stays in contact with Flock leadership.

“That’s their property, and even though we have no contract with them now, if we get Flock on the line, we should be able to get this done quickly,” Orlando said.

Orlando said if the facts show there is more damage done to rights than there is reward in terms of reducing crime, he won’t be voting for or supporting any new license-plate programs.

“When I was in the Air Force, I learned quickly that you act on facts, or people could get hurt or people could die,” Orlando said. “I want to take a look at what other cities are doing. If technology isn’t going to make our lives better, we don’t use it.”

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.