Opinion: Supporting Law Enforcement Means Standing Up for Public Safety Tools—Not Online Misinformation

By Marc Sterling

Having served on a city council, I know firsthand how seriously the community takes public safety. I also know how difficult it is for elected leaders to navigate emotionally charged debates fueled by online misinformation, half-truths, and conspiracy theories that spread far faster than facts. But leadership requires judgment, not fear. And when misinformation begins to undermine the ability of local police to do their jobs, the consequences are real and dangerous.

Across Arizona, we are seeing a troubling trend as proven public safety tools are being vilified not because of evidence, but because of speculation. Automated license plate reader technology—used responsibly by police departments across the state—is one of those tools. Despite repeated demonstrations of the value, some communities have allowed internet rumors to overshadow the lived reality of law enforcement officers and the lives they protect.

In September, a one-year-old child, Enzo Antonescu, was kidnapped at knifepoint from a Target in Southern California. As the suspects fled into Arizona, a Flock Safety license plate reader in the Flagstaff area detected the vehicle. That alert allowed Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers to locate the car near Winslow and safely recover the child. Without that technology, the outcome could have been devastating. As one spokesperson put it, it was “incredible to be able to see the work that we do every day impact a family so quickly and so tangibly.”

This was not an isolated success.

In Maricopa, police credit license plate reader cameras with identifying a suspect towing a stolen trailer through city streets which led directly to an arrest. Maricopa Police Chief Mark Goodman has been blunt about their importance, stating that in multiple cases, Flock data was “our only investigative lead.” Without it, he said, “these cases would likely go cold very quickly.”

Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple echoed that assessment, emphasizing that license plate readers have helped resolve “many Silver Alerts and Amber Alerts” and have been instrumental in combating human smuggling. “Those cameras enhance public safety,” Teeple said. “All they do is record traffic that goes by—and I can’t tell you how many lives they’ve helped save.”

And yet, despite this record, some local governments have chosen to restrict or remove these tools based not on documented abuse, but on speculative fears amplified online. As someone who once sat at that dais, I find it deeply disappointing. Then decisions to permanently end these programs have not been rooted in demonstrated harm, but in conjecture and outrage untethered from actual evidence. That is not how responsible public safety policy should be set.

I agree with Flagstaff City Councilmember Lori Matthews, who has rightly warned that attacks on law enforcement resources like license plate readers are being driven by misinformation and speculation, not facts. Questioning government is healthy. Undermining police based on viral narratives is not.

Supporting law enforcement does not mean abandoning oversight or civil liberties. Arizona police departments operate under strict policies governing data retention, access, and use. License plate readers do not track people, but rather, they identify vehicles connected to crimes, missing people, and active alerts. They are investigative tools, not instruments of mass surveillance.

When elected officials allow conspiracy theories to dictate public safety decisions, they put lives at risk. They send a message to officers on the frontline that their judgment and experience matter less than some social media posts.

As a former councilmember, I believe our communities can do better. We can demand transparency without undermining safety. We can insist on accountability without stripping police of the tools that help them bring children home, find missing seniors, and stop dangerous criminals.

Supporting our local police means standing up for facts, for evidence, and for the men and women who put on a badge every day to protect us. Anything less is a failure of leadership.

Marc Sterling is a small business owner and former teacher who served on the Sedona City Council