By Madeline Bates
Mail

The Tempe City Council recently unanimously passed a motion to start a pilot program with Axon, a public safety company that makes cameras and software for police and municipalities.

The change comes after some residents have called for Tempe to cancel its contract with Flock, another license plate recognition software company that has been accused of sharing data with federal agencies and surveillance.

Automatic license plate recognition is software that is used in many municipalities across the country to find stolen vehicles or to match those with individuals involved in crimes.

“If you don’t have public safety in the community, you don’t have any community at all,” Mayor Corey Woods said.

Woods explained that the cameras have helped find vehicles connected to Amber alerts as well as suspects of crimes within a day.

“I look forward to seeing how the pilot of this program will work well for us, and if it will work well for the men and women in the Tempe Police Department,” Woods said.

Tempe Police currently use the body cameras made by Axon and the company also has patented software for license plate scanning to help authorities in their daily tasks.

Bobby Nichols, one of the candidates for City Council, has spoken out against the use of the Flock cameras and calls for a cancellation of automatic license plate recognition data altogether.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only real way to prevent the use of ALPR data is to prevent the use of ALPR in the first place,” he said when he addressed the council.

Nichols has spoken at more than one council meeting and he wasn’t the only supporter of this change at the meeting.

Rob Ferrero, president of the Tempe Officers Association, said that while he supported the change, he didn’t want to see the technology go away.

“This discussion, which has become entirely political amid an election environment, should not become a backdoor way to dismantle ALPR altogether,” he said.

In December 2025 the city of Flagstaff canceled its contract with Flock as other cities raised concerns about surveillance and data sharing.

“We respect the decisions of city councils. We also remain committed to ensuring that any city that chooses to partner with Flock fully understands and fully controls its system,” Flock posted in response to the city of Denver canceling its contract with the company.

To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.

Madeline Bates
Reporter | Tempe/East Phoenix

mbates@iniusa.org

Meet Madeline

Madeline Bates joined Independent Newsmedia in 2025 as a Phoenix/Tempe reporter. Before graduating college, she spent a semester in Washington as a Congressional reporter in the first 100 days of the second Trump administration. But local news is where her heart is. She is excited to be in Phoenix full time and exploring new parts of the city (as long as they have AC).  

Community: After living in East Phoenix for two years, she fell in love with Paradise Valley, Mesa, Tempe, and everywhere in between. She recently discovered the beauty of the South Mountain Reserve and hopes to continue exploring should the weather comply.

Education: Madeline has a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and a certificate in Political History and Leadership.

Random Fact: She is a self-taught nail tech. No, she cannot do your nails.

Hobbies: Hiking (when its not 100 degrees), fiction writing, cooking, baking and trying new coffee shops.