County Board Chair Supervisor Frank Antenori says while he isn’t opposed to all license plate reader technology, the more extensive data collection that has been reported about Flock devices is not aligned with government's role of protecting individual rights.
“When I see that a private company is getting around the Fourth Amendment by collecting all this data through persistent surveillance and then allowing law enforcement later to access this information, that to me is a Fourth Amendment violation,” he said.
The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs awarded the county a $54,000 grant for Flock cameras. At an upcoming meeting, the board will discuss requesting an amendment to allow the county to explore other options.
Antenori and Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels are planning to ask other board members to support their stance against installing Flock devices, citing concerns about long-term data retention and the broader implications of surveillance technologies.
Supervisor Kathleen Gomez says she is also concerned.
“As Board of Supervisors, we should dig deep into all these things and make sure that we understand what kind of data is being collected and where it goes and what purposes it's being used, other than just the main one that they're selling it on, which is, of course, to catch criminals,” Gomez said.
