Get Flock’d: Liberal Tempe, Deep-Red Cave Creek End Camera Contracts the Same Day

Two Arizona municipalities with sharply different political profiles terminated their agreements with Flock Safety on Wednesday, adding Tempe and Cave Creek to a growing list of communities leaving the company’s automated license plate reader network.

Tempe shut down its 33 cameras, directed Flock to remove the equipment and said it would not seek a replacement system. The same day, Cave Creek announced the immediate administrative termination of its agreement and disclosed that public works employees had already removed its remaining cameras.

The decisions crossed Arizona’s political divide. Tempe Councilmember Bobby Nichols, who advocated ending the program, has been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America since 2019 and previously chaired its Phoenix-area chapter, according to his official city biography. A 2022 Arizona Republic precinct analysis republished by the Pulitzer Center described Cave Creek and its surrounding area as home to “deep red precincts.”

Tempe has turned off its Flock automated license plate reader system and will end its contract with the company. The cameras are no longer collecting license plate data, and Tempe will not seek another company to replace the system.

While the cameras have helped Tempe Police… pic.twitter.com/sFqfpOPiqd

— City of Tempe, AZ (@Tempegov) August 26, 2026

Across that political divide, both governments cited concerns about privacy, the potential for misuse and the reach of Flock’s nationwide data network.

JUST IN: Cave Creek terminates their contract with Flock for automated license plate readers. pic.twitter.com/2taq282aMs

— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) August 26, 2026

Tempe officials said the city’s cameras stopped collecting license plate data immediately. Previously collected information will be automatically deleted after 30 days under the city’s retention policy, while records attached to active investigations may be preserved. Residents may continue to see the cameras until Flock removes them, according to Arizona’s Family.

“These cameras have helped our police officers do their jobs, and we don’t discount that,” Mayor Corey Woods said in the city’s announcement.

“But the risk of misuse is too great,” Woods added. “For Tempe, that means taking these cameras down.”

Tempe police said their monthly audits found no improper use of the system. The department also credited its Real-Time Operations Center, which incorporated Flock data, with more than 1,200 investigative assists since the center opened in summer 2024, according to ABC15.

Earlier in August, Tempe ended automatic sharing of its license plate data with other law enforcement agencies and opened a public transparency portal showing retention rules, searches and sharing partners. The city will discontinue that portal with the camera program, according to a statewide accounting published by KTAR.

Nichols said additional local safeguards would not resolve his broader concerns about automated plate readers.

“The business model requires a consistent infringement of our Fourth Amendment rights,” Nichols told ABC15. “… the only way for them to remove that risk is by fundamentally changing the business model.”

Cave Creek’s announcement focused on the limits of policies adopted by a single municipality. Town staff and the town attorney had been developing possible restrictions intended to preserve the cameras’ law enforcement benefits while protecting residents’ information.

Officials concluded that “any local policy or safeguards could not extend beyond the Town’s jurisdiction,” according to the town’s statement.

Cave Creek said Flock’s networked design allows license plate data to be shared with and accessed by outside law enforcement agencies. Town officials determined that they could not ensure their preferred privacy protections once information became available beyond Cave Creek.

The town had planned to present recommendations and possible policies at a Sept. 15 council meeting. Staff accelerated the decision following reports of local and national misuse cases and the recent theft of a Flock camera near 32nd Street and Carefree Highway.

Following the theft, Cave Creek’s Public Works Department removed all remaining cameras for safekeeping. The town manager and town attorney are scheduled to address the contract termination during the Sept. 1 council meeting.

The same-day departures bring the number of Arizona municipalities known to have ended or declined to renew Flock agreements to at least eight: Sedona, Flagstaff, South Tucson, Sierra Vista, Chandler, Surprise, Tempe and Cave Creek. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office is separately allowing its contract to expire at the end of September.

Five of those cities and Pinal County had already announced their departures when the California Globe reported on Arizona’s widening pullback Aug. 14.

The City of Surprise subsequently notified Flock that it was canceling its contract and requested removal of the company’s equipment. The city had suspended the system after an audit anomaly led to an investigation and the placement of an officer on administrative leave. Surprise police announced Thursday that the investigation determined the officer had done nothing wrong.

Apache Junction continues operating its cameras under new restrictions after a former officer used the system to locate his wife during a personal dispute. The department now requires supervisory approval for searches unconnected to active cases and conducts weekly audit reviews. An outside criminal investigation remains underway in Goodyear following the discovery of possible misuse during an internal audit, according to KTAR.

The Arizona departures follow similar scrutiny in California. The Los Angeles Police Department allowed its three-year Flock agreement to expire in July while officials reviewed data storage, ownership and sharing practices. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is also pursuing a case alleging that the El Cajon Police Department improperly shared automated license plate reader data with more than 100 agencies outside California, as the Globe previously reported.

Flock says its customers own the information collected by their cameras and determine which agencies may access or search it. The company announced new nationwide safeguards Aug. 13, including a seven-day recommended default retention period, optional offense-based sharing filters and automatic suspension of accounts displaying abnormal activity. Flock said it will require law enforcement customers to adopt its automated Audit Assistance system and require case codes for searches by the end of 2026. Existing customers may retain storage periods previously approved by their communities.

Existing customers may retain locally approved storage periods. Flock says its cameras photograph vehicles traveling in public view, do not use facial recognition and provide investigative leads that officers are expected to verify. The company also cites federal court decisions finding that fixed-location license plate reader systems do not violate the Fourth Amendment.

The departures in Tempe and Cave Creek were followed Thursday by a new statewide review. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that her office will examine the use of Flock cameras and similar surveillance systems, their effects on privacy and any potential infringement of Fourth Amendment protections.

“We need a statewide approach to this issue,” Mayes said.

Her office will prepare a report and deliver its findings to the Arizona Legislature and the governor’s office.

The issue has also divided Arizona’s gubernatorial candidates. During an Aug. 25 Arizona Police Association forum, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said local communities should determine how to use the technology, while the state should establish safeguards.

“I believe the state’s role is not telling local communities how to solve crimes, how to deploy technology in their communities, but our job is to place guardrails,” Hobbs said.

Republican gubernatorial nominee and U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) said law enforcement agencies need sufficient technology to protect the public while observing “serious constitutional constraints.”

“We need to make sure that we have the technology necessary to protect the public, but there’s a very delicate balancing act that you’re going to have to deal with,” Biggs said during the forum.

Biggs also indicated that he would support prohibiting Flock cameras statewide.

This isn’t a partisan issue, but it’s a clear difference between me and Katie Hobbs.

We can find ways to support law enforcement without putting our civil liberties in danger. https://t.co/POoqxvCiaU

— Andy Biggs (@andybiggs4az) August 26, 2026

“The state will probably have to step in and say, ‘We’re not going to have Flock cameras.’ And then you let the local jurisdictions handle some of the other stuff,” Biggs said.

“But here’s the deal: Flock cameras have been abused already,” he continued. “Flock cameras have now proudly announced that you can actually use their software to actually link that cellphone, for instance, with your license plate. That is a gross violation, in my opinion, of a free society where people expect to be able to have some measure of privacy without having their every move tracked.”