Flock License Plate Cameras Draw Scrutiny Across Arizona Amid Misuse Case and Policy Debates

Flock Safety’s license plate reader cameras are facing rising scrutiny in Arizona and beyond, driven by a mix of proven crime-solving successes, privacy concerns, and at least one documented case of a police officer abusing similar database access. In Scottsdale, city council candidates are publicly splitting over whether to keep the city’s 85 cameras, which cost more than $281,000 a year, while Pinal County’s sheriff says the technology just helped catch a hit-and-run suspect even as he moves ahead with plans to cancel the county’s contract.

What happened in the Sarasota Florida case?

A former Sarasota Police Department officer, 38-year-old Cory Waiters, was arrested and fired after an internal affairs investigation found he allegedly ran the same Florida license plate through the Flock system 358 times between May and October 2025, according to a probable-cause affidavit. Investigators say Waiters also made repeated searches of the same tag in Florida’s Driver and Vehicle Information Database (DAVID), and that he was not working any criminal case tied to that vehicle during that period. He faces felony charges for offenses against computer users, systems and networks, plus official misconduct, and a misdemeanor charge for violating public records law. The department opened its internal probe on Aug. 6, 2026, put Waiters on paid leave Aug. 7, and assigned a criminal investigation Aug. 12. A separate agencywide compliance audit, launched the same week, wrapped up Aug. 14 and found the rest of the department in compliance. Police Chief Rex Troche said the agency takes misconduct allegations seriously and will act “without hesitation” when conduct falls short of expected standards. Waiters, who joined the department in 2023, is being held at the Sarasota County Jail.

Why is Scottsdale debating its Flock contract?

The Sarasota case lands amid a broader reassessment of Flock cameras happening in Arizona’s Valley cities, and it’s become a live issue in Scottsdale’s city council race. Candidate Michelle Ugenti-Rita has said publicly she opposes the cameras. Incumbent Solange Whitehead, who has already secured enough primary votes to keep her seat, said the city expected strong privacy protections and that Flock “failed to meet those expectations.” Candidate Raoul Zubia said he doesn’t support how the cameras are currently used but wants to work with police on clearer policy if elected, while incumbent Barry Graham said he’s wary of misuse seen elsewhere but isn’t aware of any problems with Scottsdale’s own cameras. Scottsdale police declined an on-camera interview but said in a written statement that the technology has helped solve murders and locate stolen vehicles, pointing to the 2024 arrest of an accused serial attacker wanted in multiple states, who was caught in a parking garage at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Resident Vincent Lau has pressed the council to investigate how the system is used, arguing that AI capabilities have outpaced state and federal privacy law. It’s not yet known whether the current council will formally take up the issue.

What’s happening with Flock contracts elsewhere in the region?

Scottsdale isn’t alone in reconsidering its arrangement. Surprise and Chandler have already canceled their Flock contracts, and Tempe has kept its cameras but stopped automatically sharing captured data with other police departments. Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple announced earlier in the month that he intends to end the county’s Flock contract, largely over concerns about the system’s “pattern detection technology,” which he says can be used to map out a person’s day-to-day movements in ways that raise Fourth Amendment concerns. But Teeple’s own department just credited the cameras with helping solve a serious hit-and-run case: 11-year-old Ethan Turner was struck by a vehicle while riding a scooter in the Copper Basin neighborhood of San Tan Valley on Aug. 10, breaking his femur and ribs and suffering a concussion. Deputies used a witness description of the vehicle, ran it through Flock, and got a hit that led to the arrest of 46-year-old Glenn Noordhof, who has been indicted on aggravated assault, leaving the scene of an accident, and DUI charges. Teeple said the cameras were “instrumental” in solving the case quickly and that he has “never said LPRs are bad,” but he’s proceeding with the plan to end the contract, which runs through Sept. 28.

Why does this matter beyond these individual cases?

Flock’s automated license plate readers use AI to log vehicle descriptions in a searchable, cloud-stored database that officers can query in real time or well after an incident. Law enforcement agencies point to cases like the Scottsdale Fashion Square arrest and the Pinal County hit-and-run as evidence the tool solves real crimes quickly. But the Sarasota misuse allegations — an officer searching one plate hundreds of times with no active case attached — illustrate the kind of unauthorized surveillance critics warn the technology makes possible, and they’re fueling the same privacy debate now playing out in Arizona city halls and sheriff’s offices, where officials are weighing crime-solving value against the risk of tracking people’s movements without adequate oversight.

Sources

• AZFamily
• ABC15 Arizona — Scottsdale city council candidates take sides on Flock license plate cameras · Pinal County sheriff: Flock system was ‘instrumental’ in finding hit-and-run suspect

Featured photo: Scotwriter21 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)