Flock cameras are sold as license plate readers. Their own patent describes
something bigger: video analysis that can identify people, assign traits, and
make real-world activity searchable.
Safety without mass surveillance
Who We Are
Deflock Casa Grande is a nonpartisan civic campaign.
We are asking Casa Grande leaders for public safety that supports law
enforcement with clear guidelines, public oversight, audits, and accountability.
Not political
Not left-wing, not right-wing, and not affiliated with any political party,
candidate, or partisan organization.
Independent
Not funded by anyone, not backed by any outside group, and not associated
with other Deflock websites.
Pro law enforcement
We support public safety and the people responsible for protecting Casa
Grande.
Pro accountability
Powerful surveillance systems need rules, oversight, audits, and
consequences for misuse.
Latest updates
Updates on Flock in Casa Grande
Recent developments show why residents need clear rules, public notice,
and enforceable limits before the city expands Flock surveillance.
New local record
Casa Grande Email Says Cameras Monitored a Student Protest
The January 30, 2026 email lists “Monitoring of a student protest at City Hall” among recent camera-system wins.
The same page says the system assisted in locating missing or endangered individuals and allowed police to “identify involved parties” and “monitor activity” before patrol arrived.
That matters because residents are told these cameras track vehicles, not individuals. The city’s own email describes uses involving people, suspects, and protesters.
The source document says “student protest.” We describe it as peaceful because the email does not allege violence, a crime, or a public-safety threat tied to that protest.
Flock has started early access for what it calls distress monitoring, expanding gunshot-detection microphones toward listening for human distress sounds.
Flock and the city have been adding what they call gunshot detection systems. Now those microphone systems can be upgraded to include "distress."
For a microphone to capture distress, it has to be listening for events. That turns these devices into always-listening stations around the city.
EFF warned about this risk in 2025, when it reported that Flock gunshot-detection microphones were being expanded to listen for human voices and distress sounds.
Flock's own product launch says existing LPR cameras can become video-enabled through a cloud software update.
Most people think Flock is just a safety system for license plates looking for bad actors. But Flock says its LPR cameras can provide video context too.
That means the system can capture more than a plate. It can collect video of vehicles moving through neighborhoods, roads, and cities, regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime.
When video, location, time, and AI search are combined, residents face a bigger risk: movement records stored in a powerful database, exposed to broad authorized-user searches, misuse, warrantless access, and security breaches.
Casa Grande approved connecting existing elementary school cameras to the Flock ecosystem through Flock gateways.
On May 4, 2026, City Council voted to approve connecting existing Casa Grande elementary school cameras to the Flock ecosystem through Flock gateways.
Parents deserve clear notice before school cameras connect to a massive AI surveillance network.
The agreements raise serious questions about remote access, undefined authorized users, vague public safety purposes, AI analytics, retention, audits, and parent notification.
Plain-English explanation
What Are We Really Installing?
Flock cameras are often described as license plate readers. That sounds narrow,
routine, and harmless.
But Flock's own patent describes something more powerful: a system that analyzes
video, identifies objects, including people, assigns attributes, and turns that
information into searchable records.
In plain English, this is not just a camera looking for stolen cars. It is the
blueprint for a searchable surveillance network. Casa Grande residents deserve
to know exactly what it can collect, who can search it, and what rules stop abuse.
Casa Grande's published Flock coverage map shows camera markers spread
across major roads and neighborhoods, not just a few isolated locations.
Map image courtesy of
deflock.org
.
Casa Grande coverage
The City Is Building a Surveillance Grid
Full deployment of all technology will take approximately twelve months. After full deployment, the city says there will be:
100
License Plate Reader Cameras
100
Pan Tilt Zoom Cameras
31
Gun Shot Detection Systems
This Is Beyond Plate Reading
License Plate Reader (LPR) Cameras
The city says they identify vehicles associated with investigations, not individuals. But LPRs capture image records, plate reads, timestamps, and locations that can reconstruct where people travel over time.
Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) Cameras
The city says trained personnel operate them during incidents. In practice, zoomable cameras can follow any person in view, including women and children, not just people suspected of crimes.
Drone as First Responder (DFR)
Marketed as aerial support for faster response, but drones can also let police look into backyards and other private outdoor spaces.
Gunshot Detection System
The city says it detects gunfire and does not record conversations. EFF warns Flock gunshot-detection microphones are being expanded to listen for human voices and distress sounds.
Connects the surveillance network into one platform. Flock has described integrations that can combine camera data with OSINT-style information, including online profiles, posts, addresses, and identity clues.
Taxpayer tradeoff
Cameras do not patrol, de-escalate, interview witnesses, or build trust.
Casa Grande should prove this mass-surveillance spend reduces serious crime
before spending roughly $1,000,000 a year on cameras, sensors, drones, and software.
Better use of tax money
We could have funded 13 more dedicated officers keeping us safe instead
of mass surveillance.
A million dollars a year buys people, not just cameras.
Casa Grande approved a roughly 10-year, $10 million Safe City/Flock contract, which averages about $1 million per year before considering reported taxes and later-year annual costs.
Officer staffing math
13 officers
Casa Grande lists Police Officer base pay at
$63,714-$87,824, with a
$74,762 midpoint. At that midpoint, $1,000,000 / $74,762 = about 13 officer base salaries.
Benefits, equipment, training, and vehicles add real costs, so this is not a
full staffing budget. But it shows the tradeoff: the same annual money could
fund multiple additional sworn officers instead of locking Casa Grande into a
permanent surveillance network.
Documented abuse pattern
Abuse Is Already Happening Across the Country
Flock and other ALPR systems can reveal where a person goes over time. That
kind of location history is sensitive for the same reason cell phone location
records are sensitive, but ALPR searches are often not regulated with a
warrant standard.
The harm is not hypothetical. The Institute for Justice and continued
reporting have documented at least 20 reported cases of police using ALPR
access for romantic stalking, including searches of spouses, ex-partners,
romantic interests, and their friends.
Note: deflockcg updated this list from 14 to 20 documented cases on 6/29/26.
Timeline of documented abuse - latest first
2026
Prairie Grove, Illinois
Officer William C. Copp, who also served as the police chief of nearby Holiday Hills, was arrested after searching Flock for several former romantic partners and at least one of their new partners. Copp has been fired from his Prairie Grove position and his employment with Holiday Hills is under review.
2026
Winnebago County, Illinois
Former Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Bryan was charged with stalking and official misconduct after allegedly using the department's ALPR system to monitor the locations of an ex-girlfriend and her new partner. The misconduct came to light after the victims filed for an order of protection against Bryan.
Former Niceville Officer Coty Hall pleaded no contest to several charges after using the department's Flock system to track another officer and that officer's spouse. Hall's misconduct was discovered via an internal audit; Hall was fired following his arrest in October 2025.
2026
Coffee County, Georgia
Former Coffee County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Rozar was charged with multiple criminal offenses after allegedly using the department's Flock system to stalk a woman he was romantically interested in. Rozar was fired from the department at the beginning of the investigation.
2026
Monroe County, Florida
Sheriff's Deputy Lamar Roman allegedly used an ALPR system to track and eventually pull over a woman he had met while providing security on a TV set. Roman was arrested and charged with accessing a computer or electronic device without authorization.
2025
Bonner Springs, Kansas
Detective Kyle Rector allegedly used license plate readers to track his estranged wife and two men he suspected were her new romantic partners. He was charged with multiple crimes in March 2026.
Police Chief Michael Steffman was arrested after allegedly using license plate readers to stalk and harass multiple people, including a former romantic partner. Steffman resigned shortly before his arrest.
Officer Cristian Morales was placed on leave and charged with misconduct in office after his ex-girlfriend filed a complaint alleging that he used a Flock system to track her.
2025
Kenosha County, Wisconsin
Sheriff's Deputy Frank McGrath resigned with severance pay after internal investigators found he used the department's Flock system to keep tabs on another deputy with whom he was romantically involved.
2025
Jerome County, Idaho
Sheriff George Oppedyk used a Flock system to search for his wife's vehicle hundreds of times. Idaho's Attorney General concluded that no crime was committed, but Oppedyk retired in April 2026, two years before his term of office ended.
2025
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Officer Josue Ayala allegedly used the department's network of Flock ALPRs to track a woman he was dating and her ex-partner nearly 180 times over a two-month period. Ayala resigned in 2026 after being charged with misconduct in public office.
2025
Louisville, Kentucky
Officer Roberto Cedeno was charged with multiple felonies after allegedly using the city's ALPR system to track an ex-partner and her friends hundreds of times over two months.
According to internal documents obtained by stopflock.org, Officer Jaila Cole-Clark ran hundreds of Flock searches for her former domestic partner and that individual's new partner. Cole-Clark resigned from department in the middle of the investigation.
2024
Shelby County, Tennessee
Deputy Thadius Gordon was relieved of duty after allegedly using an ALPR database to track his ex-wife's location more than 100 times.
2024
Orange City, Florida
Officer Jarmarus Brown allegedly used ALPRs to stalk his girlfriend and her family members more than 100 times over seven months. Brown was arrested and charged in 2025.
2024
Riverside County, California
After being arrested for kidnapping his ex-fiancee, Deputy Alexander Vanny allegedly used the department's Flock system to track one of her friends. In December 2025 he was convicted of multiple charges in a jury trial.
2023
Costa Mesa, California
Officer Robert Josett used a Flock camera system to track his mistress and her other romantic interests. Josett pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges in April 2026.
Police Chief Lee Nygaard resigned after using Flock cameras to track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend more than 200 times over several months.
Kechi Lieutenant Victor Heiar pleaded guilty to computer crime and stalking after using Flock cameras to track his estranged wife.
2021
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Officer Michael McSherry pleaded guilty to stalking charges after using readers to track his estranged wife and other family members.
Casa Grande misuse evidence
The local record already shows why enforceable oversight matters.
These are not the only possible abuse cases. They are merely the ones that
have become visible through public records, reporting, litigation, or leaks.
The absence of documentation is not evidence that abuse has not occurred.
Patent-backed evidence
Flock's Own Patent Says More Than License Plates
The patent describes object and attribute analysis, including examples involving
people. Read the highlighted excerpts before signing.
Families and daily life
Why This Matters for Families
The concern is not only what a camera sees today. It is what the system can
keep, learn from, and reuse after the original photo or video is gone.
Plain English
Perpetual = forever.
The city is granting Flock a license to certain data created from Casa
Grande images forever, even after the contract is over.
Photos can be deleted. Data can live on.
Even if the original image is removed, information learned from it can still
be used, licensed, and combined with other records.
Location plus visual data is powerful
When location and visual data can be searched together, it can reveal
patterns about where people go, when they go there, and what they look like.
Anonymized does not mean anonymous
In 2026, large language models and open-source intelligence data can make it
much easier to connect supposedly anonymized records back to real people.
When location, time, vehicle, and visual patterns are combined, data Flock
has a license to can still point back to families.
Children cannot consent to this
A child's data can be swept into the system before they are old enough to
make decisions about their own privacy, then licensed for future use.
Rules protect ordinary residents
That is why systems like this require strict rules, oversight, audits, and
accountability before they become part of everyday life.
Take action
Sign the Petition to Protect Casa Grande Residents
Add your name and ask city leaders for public safety with rules, warrants where
appropriate, audits, and oversight.
