Chandler suspends Flock camera use amid probe

Another city parting ways with flock cameras and this is happening in Chandler. Chandler PD telling Fox 10 they have restricted use to all of their cameras, 40 in total. Yeah, it comes one day after an internal investigation was launched into potential misuse of that technology. We don't know what that is. Fox 10's Nicole Christine joins us live with more. Nicole, have you found out any more information? This announcement comes just days before Chandler City Council was set to vote regarding the city's contract with flock. Chief Brian Chapman couldn't speak to the specifics of this investigation since it is internal and ongoing, but he did say that no resident's privacy was compromised by this potential misuse. All of the employees at the Chandler Police Department have had their access to the flock system restricted effectively immediately. Chandler, the latest city in Arizona to end its use of 40 flock cameras in use until this week across the city. Police Chief Brian Chapman also sharing that an internal investigation is underway into an anomaly caught by a routine audit process. I can just say that we have identified a potential misuse of the system by somebody in our organization. That anomaly, not surprising news to community members who have spoken up against the use of automated license plate readers. Flock cameras and automated license plate readers have been used wrongly in a number of ways and that's what we've been warning about because we saw this coming and we didn't want it to happen in Chandler. This isn't just an issue with flock, it's not just an issue with one company, this is an issue with the technology that really profits from selling people's data. Chief Chapman touting the technology during his press conference saying it's been an important part of police work since its installation in March 2024. Certainly this slows down our investigative capacities, but importantly ALPR is one piece of a technology layer that we use to investigate and handle calls for service every single day. Now the cameras themselves won't immediately be taken down because they are the property of flock itself. We spoke to those residents about what they'd like to see done in the city in the future. They say they'd support an ordinance to ban any partnership with ALDR technology including flock moving forward and that they will continue to advocate for that at city council meetings. In Chandler, Nicole Christine, Fox 10 News.