Tempe Dropped Flock Safety. Now Ron DeSantis Says License Plate Surveillance Is ‘Out of Control’
The Arizona city says the crime-fighting tool’s risks outweigh its benefits, joining a broader backlash that now includes concerns from Ron DeSantis.
The City of Tempe on Wednesday announced that it’s severing its contract with Flock, a surveillance technology company known for its controversial automated license plate reading. Tempe city officials said that the city has turned off Flock’s systems and that the cameras are no longer collecting vehicle data.
While officials acknowledged that the technology was useful to local police officers, they said that the risk of misuse exceeded the technology’s benefit. Earlier in August, Tempe officials ceased all data sharing from the automated license plate reader system. Representatives for Flock did not immediately respond to Inc.’s request for comment.
Tempe will not seek another company to replace
“Tempe will not seek another company to replace the system,” the city wrote in a post on X. “While the cameras have helped Tempe Police solve crimes, recent misuse of automated license plate reader systems in Arizona and nationwide has raised concerns about the risks that come with the technology.”
Tempe is the latest city to join the growing exodus of municipalities to split from the Atlanta-based Flock.
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Roughly two dozen states have cancelled their agreements with the company amid public scrutiny and pushback. Those states include Arizona, North Carolina, California, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Rhode Island.
Flock works with more than 5,000 law enforcement
Flock works with more than 5,000 law enforcement entities nationwide, along with the state and federal governments, and has been praised the technology for aiding in criminal investigations. But the cameras have also drawn intense ire from privacy activists who are concerned about the technology’s constant surveillance and misuse, including by police officers who used Flock data to track their current and ex-intimate partners. Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed concerns about edging towards a surveillance state on Wednesday, noting that the technology has spiraled “out of control.”
“I don’t want to be in a situation where these tech companies, a handful of tech companies, know everything about you and know where you’re going,” DeSantis said, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. “And I know they collect a lot as it is, but I think it’s going to get a lot worse unless we have some protections for the people in Florida.”
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