Tempe’s City Council adopted an ordinance on October 15 barring every city agency from obtaining, using or querying automated license plate readers. The 6-1 vote makes the Phoenix suburb the first Arizona municipality to take the step.
Councilmember Bobby Nichols brought the measure, a year after he first raised concerns about Flock cameras from the public seating. The city had already switched its 33 units off in August and said it would not seek a replacement vendor. The ordinance makes that decision permanent.
What the text actually stops
No city department may purchase plate-reading systems, hold them, access their data or run queries against them. Vice Mayor Arlene Chin cast the lone no vote, arguing that banning a whole technology category was short-sighted even if its safeguards were aimed in the right direction.
Lawmakers added carve-outs to keep regional policing workable. Outside agencies may pass Tempe plate data without being asked, except where the request arrives through a multi-jurisdiction investigation, search warrant or subpoena. The ACLU of Arizona told the council those subpoena terms remain too vague.
The pressure behind the vote
East Valley Unite, the ACLU of Arizona and the Maricopa County Libertarian Party pushed for the ban since August, after the city retired its Flock contract.
Arizona is not the only front. A lawsuit filed in Wisconsin asks the state Supreme Court to require warrants before police search plate databases, and Texas has cut grant funding for the cameras. Each case chips at the assumption that plate data is freely searchable. For drivers, the practical change is physical: fewer cameras logging every pass.
