In September 2022, a car sounded the alarm of an automatic license plate reading system near Litchfield Church. A camera system called Flock told police that the vehicle had been stolen.

Police scrambled to find the driver in the historically wealthy town. When I reached the panicked driver, I realized that the flock was off the road.

“The plate actually read AZ:D74A5G, but Flock’s camera misread it as AZ:074A45G,” officers wrote in the report.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened at Litchfield Park. The previous December, Flock artificial intelligence made the same mistake. Also in the same month, he accurately called police about a stolen vehicle whose number was incorrectly entered into his statewide MVD system. The driver was taken into custody, but was later released.

The system is connected to the FBI database, the National Criminal Information Center. Police officers with access to Flock can set alerts based on subjective suspicion. Additionally, police can be alerted if a suspect uses a Flock camera to enter another jurisdiction.

According to Chad Marlowe, a senior adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union, any Flock subscriber around the world can see details about Valley residents.

“They can keep detailed records of your comings and goings in the city,” he said. “There are two things that Flock can do. One is it connects networks. Wherever you are and what you do is tied to the Flock system: Flock subscribers can access data about Litchfield Park residents from anywhere in the world and wherever they travel in the world. Now you can see it from the park.”

A runaway, a high school bully, an ex-boyfriend, etc. can all be potential targets.

Most cities in Maricopa County and some cities in Pinal County have Flock cameras. In other areas, state or county law enforcement agencies indiscriminately deploy cameras in communities, raising concerns about Fourth Amendment privacy benefits, abuse, and political surveillance. increase.

Bring back the warrant

Flock claims to erase license plate data after 30 days, but government agencies using the Flock system can take 30 days of an individual’s location history and download that data for agency retention. .

The Litchfield Police Department and other Maricopa County Police Departments regularly set alerts for those interested in investigations within and outside their jurisdiction. Some are criminal suspects, some are not. Additionally, their data retention and police targeting oversight are opaque.

According to Litchfield Park Alarm Blotter, police set up alarms to talk to people who: talk to city officials. The town also raises alarms when certain felons break into city limits.

“When a sex offender’s vehicle ‘crosses’ a crowd’s cameras, it automatically alerts the system. It’s either in or out,” said Litchfield Park City manager Matthew Williams.

According to Floch representative Holly Balin, the action appears to violate the intent of Floch’s restrictions.

“For individuals currently on the sex offender list, law enforcement can get a warning if their vehicle drives near a school, which is illegal,” she said.

According to the National Association for Rational Sexual Crime Law (NARSOL), much can be said about how the government treats the “lowest class” of free people.

“In our society, registered sex offenders are considered the ‘lowest class,’ but all citizens, including those who have committed past felonies but are not wanted for new crimes, do the same.” is entitled to the protection of the , a representative of NARSOL. “Just because a registrant is registered does not forfeit any rights conferred on other nationals. It is an example of towns and counties racing to impose increasingly stringent surveillance measures that are unnecessary intrusions into people’s lives, are based on irrational fear, and have no effect on public safety. It doesn’t affect, it’s just a political drama, and we should all be annoyed that the government is watching people who are just trying to live a law-abiding life.”

Arizona does not have court orders, so there are no perimeter laws. However, there are provisions for felons who live near schools. Nevertheless, Beijing Lin’s statement legally respects the Fourth Amendment rights of all citizens.

The search and seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment prevent “wrongful” searches. This protection continues to apply to those with criminal records and those engaged in speech activities.

Litchfield’s crowd warnings seem alarming, according to Robert Frommer, a senior attorney at the Justice Institute and the Institute’s project director on the Fourth Amendment.

“My most important point is that the police use these systems for general crime control and for tracking the movements of unwanted persons,” he said.

In 2021, the Fourth Circuit will Beautiful Struggle Leaders vs. Baltimore Police Department Widespread surveillance by drones has created an intimate mosaic of personal tendencies, and therefore falls under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.Similarly, in 2018 US Supreme Court Frommer said the high court ruled that access to cell phone information for seven days constitutes a Fourth Amendment investigation.

“This is a warrant investigation,” Mr. Frommer said of the two cases in the High Court. “I don’t know how this technology is really different. Instead of one drone flying in the sky, he has 100 cameras all over the city, but the end effect is the same. The government is all It is to create a digital panopticon that allows us to see the comings and goings of our citizens.”

“What did we do?”

The 3.3-square-mile town of Litchfield Park chose not to budget for its police department. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department policed ​​all of Litchfield Park until July 2021, when it was replaced by the Avondale Police Department.

In the month before the swap, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office racially profiled Latino drivers, revealing more arrests and longer detention times than white drivers. The report detailed former sheriff Joe Arpaio’s targeting of immigrants through divisive traffic enforcement policies.

Under new leadership, MCSO is piloting a pilot program to adopt floc. The department still polices and responds to the less affluent, unincorporated parts of the Litchfield Park ZIP code.

According to the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, the government is prohibited from conducting “unjustified searches and seizures.” This means that law enforcement cannot search an individual or his/her property without undue or justifiable reason. For Arpaio, race was not a rational justification.

Likewise, the Fourth Amendment applies to the collection of evidence.

Marlowe said networks like Floch have real concerns about leaked evidence.

“Oakland[California]was a sanctuary city, which meant it was official city policy not to use any governmental immigration tools to crack down on illegal immigrants,” he said. Stated. “But because they had a network and that data was shared with the company that runs it, Vigilant Solutions, and the Fusion Center, ICE[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]was able to get Oakland’s ALPR data. Yes, and they use it to pursue illegal immigrants and communities, even though it’s a direct violation of Auckland law.”

“We have nothing to do with ICE,” company president Holly Balin said when asked if ICE would have access to the Flock system in any way.

At the same time, when asked if the Flock system would track illegal immigrants, Beilin said the system could be used by local governments under local law.

“We expect local law enforcement to enforce any laws that are legally or socially necessary,” she said. “The floc does not determine what a crime is, nor does it make laws. I believe we should work together to enact the law.”

fusion centers like Arizona Counterterrorism Information Center We partner with agencies like the Arizona Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Parent of ICE), Arizona Department of Public Safety, FBI, MCSO, and other participating police departments.

The legislature created the Arizona Department of Homeland Security. The Congress asked former Governor Doug Ducey to exercise the war powers and declare. 2022 immigration war.

“It will have devastating consequences for vulnerable communities,” Marlowe said. “And especially, as I said, it certainly could be true of any ALPR system, if it’s a national or globalized system rather than a localized one.”

Marlowe encourages the community to consider a localized ALPR system as a best practice. He believes that invasions of privacy are more localized and that the power to weld damage is better contained.

“When dealing with risks such as: [a localized] It’s more contained in the system than Floc at least,” he said. “If you reflexively join Flock because you like Flock’s advertising campaign or what your neighborhood city is doing, you’re opening a bigger can of bugs. Probably well. You’re opening a bigger can of bugs than you would have wished to have avoided.Community activists now need to bring the issue up to their city council members so the devastating consequences can occur. They’re making smart decisions right from the start, instead of waiting for them, they’re saying, “Oh my god what have we done?”

Mr. Flock declined to provide a list of organizations working with him in Arizona.

To contact Michael McDaniel: mmcdaniel@iniusa.org. We invite our readers to submit their public opinion, pro or con, on this issue. e-mail AZOpinions@iniusa.org.