Automatic license plate readers allow Scottsdale Police to solve leads in a matter of minutes that could take as long as weeks to solve without them, according to Scottsdale Assistant Chief of Police Christopher Watson.
It looks like Scottsdale will continue to use automatic license plate readers, but with greater “guardrails” on their use.
The city council voted unanimously during its Oct. 6 meeting to direct staff to draw up a city ordinance with stricter controls on the use of ALPRs, including criminalizing abuses of the system by individuals and requiring the city auditor’s office to audit the system annually.
The new city ordinance will be presented to the city council for a vote during its Dec. 1 meeting.
City Councilwoman Solange Whitehead, who made the motion of the new ordinance, said “the idea of being monitored is scary” but she sees the value of the ALPRs.
“Like most of you, I had a visceral reaction to the abuses that we read about suddenly and really to a loss of trust... but we’re trying to take a measured approach,” she said. “As another speaker said we are elected to solve problems, not to react. That is what we are working on, to solve a problem and that is to protect at all costs, privacy but also protect public safety,” she said.
ALPRs became a hot button issue in the Valley in August when it came to light that some officers from different police departments were using them for reasons other than law enforcement purposes.
Four Valley cities have gone so far as to take them down.
Scottsdale Assistant Police Chiefs Christopher Watson and Lee Campbell gave an almost hour-long presentation defending the use of ALPRs.
They likened the movement calling for their removal to the defund the police movement of 2020 and listed multiple instances when ALPRs were used successfully, including locating a man with dementia who had driven off from his home in August.
The Scottsdale Police have been using ALPRs since 2008 — when the council voted to use them — and entered into its current contract with the Flock Safety company — which was approved administratively — in 2023. The current contract, which includes 85 cameras around town, runs out in 2028.
“Stepping away from it would be a giant leap back in time, in service and in overall capability,” Watson said. “Here’s what it would mean for Scottsdale: Slower — leads that take minutes today would take hours, days, weeks. Costlier — you would have more officer hours on every case taken from patrol time or paid in overtime. That effects the public in how quickly we can solve cases and bring them justice. Fewer cases solved — that includes the 27 stolen vehicles that were recovered this year and tied to suspects.”
He also said ALPRs actually protect people’s privacy because they allow officers to focus on specific vehicles.
Watson noted that audits done within the police department has never found a single instance of wrongdoing in Scottsdale. Officers need to include a plate number, a call for service number, the investigation type, who asked for it and why, when searching the system.
Watson noted that only other Arizona law enforcement agencies are able to access Scottsdale’s ALPR system. Federal law enforcement agencies and out-of-state agencies are not allowed to access Scottsdale’s system. Likewise, state legislation passed last year makes it illegal for private companies to sell the data they collect with third parties.
ALPRs are not facial recognition systems, and they are not used to track people exercising their right to free speech, Watson said.
But not everyone was as friendly to ALPRs.
Twenty one members of the public spoke on the subject with eight of them encouraging the council to stop using ALPRs altogether.
Eric Fowler, chairman of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party, referenced a recent case in which a federal judge in Oklahoma called the use of a Flock system an “indiscriminate mass surveillance” that broke the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Others also noted that Scottsdale keeps the information it gathers through FLOCK for 185 days, when the company’s retention recommendation is 10 days.
But Watson encouraged the council to challenge the police’s use of the ALPRs and ensure they are being used properly.
“The goal is guardrails, not elimination,” Watson said, noting the state and international associations of chiefs of police have also recommended standards on how ALPRs can be used.
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Graber joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in February 2023, starting his career as a staff writer covering the City of Scottsdale and was named news editor of the Scottsdale Independent in 2024.
Community: He serves on the altar guild as well as being an usher at St. Mathews Episcopal Church in Chandler.
Education: He earned his BA in creative writing with a minor in journalism from the University of Arizona. He then earned an MS in Mass Communications from the University of Oregon.
Random Fact: He enjoys reading novels by Russian authors.
Hobbies: Playing classical guitar, reading, fishing, going to the gym, watching sports and spending time with his family.
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