State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-15) condemned the surveillance company Flock in a recent social media post over their apparent hypocrisy, calling for a ban on warrantless mass surveillance.
The Context
Flock builds automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) for police to track vehicles, which have become controversial over the right to privacy and how the cameras can be used for malevolent purposes.
Last week, Flock filed a lawsuit against a man named Joshua Michael, who created a Flock Surveillance Map that shows where Flock cameras and other hardware are located nationwide, using the website's own data to upload the information.
Hoffman's Response
"The company that built a 300,000-device warrantless surveillance dragnet now wants the public map of its own cameras taken down," State Sen. Hoffman wrote on X, adding, "They want to spy on every law-abiding American, while weaponizing the courts to keep you from mapping their dragnet."
"They don't want privacy," he continued, before saying, "They want a one-way mirror."
"Ban warrantless government mass surveillance. Full stop," State Sen. Hoffman concluded.
On the Other Side
In February, former Sedona City Councilman Marc Sterling wrote an opinion piece for Cactus Politics arguing that ALPRs are not the weapon of warrantless mass surveillance that the internet is making them out to be.
"Across Arizona, we are seeing a troubling trend as proven public safety tools are being vilified not because of evidence, but because of speculation," wrote Sterling. "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."
He cited the case of Enzo Antonescu, a one-year-old infant who was kidnapped last September in Southern California and was rescued in Winslow, Arizona, thanks to a Flock camera identifying the kidnapper's vehicle.
Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple further emphasized that "all they do is record traffic that goes by—and I can’t tell you how many lives they’ve helped save."
