Independent public-records review · Prescott, Arizona

Prescott put its residents under mass surveillance — quietly.

The City wired Prescott with Flock cameras that log where residents drive, then sidestepped the safeguards meant to check that power. Its own emails show officials seeking paperwork to avoid competitive bids, timing the contract to skip a Council vote, and delaying public discussion until the cameras were already running. This site lays out how it happened — entirely from the City’s own records — and makes the case for shutting it down.

The technology

This is a dragnet, not a suspect list

Flock Safety builds automated license plate readers (ALPRs) — cameras that photograph every passing vehicle, read its plate, and log where and when it was seen. The reads are stored, searchable, and can trigger alerts to police. That means the routine movements of ordinary, innocent Prescott residents are recorded and retained by default — mass, persistent tracking, not targeted surveillance of suspects.See what Prescott has deployed →

In Prescott

What it captures about you

  • The license plate and a photo of each passing vehicle
  • The date and time of the read
  • The camera or approximate location
  • Visible vehicle attributes (type, make, color, state, and features)

One read is a data point; a network of readers is a map of your life.

Start here

The case, in four parts

Why you can trust this

Every claim here is on the record

We don’t need to exaggerate — the City’s own contracts, invoices, and emails make the case. Every material claim links to the primary document behind it, and each is labeled by how strongly the evidence supports it. This is an independent community project, not affiliated with the City of Prescott, Flock Safety, or any law-enforcement agency. Our aim is plain: an informed public, real oversight, and the removal of a surveillance system Prescott never properly approved.

Read the evidence ·See the concerns