"Too Intrusive": Pinal County Sheriff Announces Plan to End Flock Contract, Citing Data Breach Reports and Fourth Amendment Concerns
One Arizona sheriff is ending his agency's Flock contract as residents in another community push for a public review of their own surveillance agreement.
In a surprise announcement during Wednesday’s Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting, Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple said he is directing his staff to eliminate the Sheriff’s Office contract with Flock Safety, citing what he believes are growing Fourth Amendment concerns surrounding modern surveillance technology that incorporates automated license plate readers (ALPRs).
The presentation, listed as an informational agenda item regarding Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras, quickly turned into a policy announcement that could reshape how the Sheriff’s Office uses surveillance technology in unincorporated Pinal County.
Sheriff Teeple said his concerns are not about traditional license plate readers alone but about how advances in artificial intelligence have expanded the capabilities of camera systems.
“I have serious Fourth Amendment concerns over the current technology that is spread out on Pinal County unincorporated areas,” Teeple told supervisors.
The sheriff explained that while courts have consistently ruled there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a license plate displayed on a public roadway, today’s technology goes much further than simply reading plates.
He noted that AI-powered systems can now incorporate capabilities such as facial recognition, pattern recognition, and movement-history analysis. These are capabilities he believes move beyond settled legal precedent regarding license plate readers.
“The problem that I have... is once you create technology that can now establish a pattern of movement for an individual, there’s a completely different Supreme Court ruling about putting geo-trackers on a vehicle so they could track a person’s movement everywhere. And that’s too intrusive,” Teeple said.
He added that his concerns were reinforced after researching reported security incidents involving Flock and consulting with Sheriff's Office IT staff.
Because of those concerns, Sheriff Teeple announced he has already instructed staff to terminate the Sheriff’s Office’s participation.
“That’s why I instructed my staff to eliminate this contract — and so we’re not going forward.”
Sheriff Teeple emphasized his decision only affects cameras operated by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in unincorporated county areas.
Cities that independently contract with Flock Safety can continue using the technology if they choose.
“The cities, if they decide that they want to continue on with this technology — God bless ‘em. They are free to do that.”
The sheriff also questioned the company’s response after he began asking detailed legal and technical questions about the platform.
According to Sheriff Teeple, the local Flock representative initially promised answers but was no longer employed by the company the next time they met.
“I thought that was very telling.”
Vice-Chairman Jeff Serdy said increased national attention surrounding Flock cameras prompted him to request the discussion be placed on the Board’s agenda.
During questions from supervisors, Sheriff Teeple said license plate data retained by his office follows Arizona’s records retention requirements and is maintained only as long as state law requires.
Because Wednesday’s discussion was informational only, supervisors could not vote on the matter.
County attorneys advised the Board that while the Sheriff’s Office can discontinue its own use of the technology, an existing 2024 right-of-way license agreement remains in place and any Board action regarding that agreement would need to come back as a future agenda item.
Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller Responds
Sheriff Ross Teeple’s announcement comes months after Jen’s Two Cents reported on the scope of Flock Safety’s presence within Pinal County government, revealing that two county departments had access to the Flock OS, including the Pinal County Attorney’s Office.
At the time, the County Attorney’s Office defended its use of the technology.
“The technology serves a legitimate investigative purpose. It helps law enforcement identify suspect vehicles, generate leads, corroborate witness accounts, and connect incidents across jurisdictions, particularly after a crime has been committed,” Christy Kelly, public information officer for Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller, told Jen’s Two Cents in March.
Kelly also said the office viewed itself as “a guardian of civil liberties” and that “powerful technology requires clear, principled guardrails that protect both public safety and the rights of the people we serve.”
Following Sheriff Ross Teeple's announcement Wednesday that he was ending the Sheriff's Office's Flock Safety contract, Jen's Two Cents asked Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller for his reaction to the decision.
Miller declined to weigh in on the Sheriff's policy decision, explaining that his office's role is to provide legal advice to county clients rather than comment on policy choices made by those clients.
Jen’s Two Cents.
Meanwhile, opposition to Flock Safety continues to grow elsewhere in Arizona.
Sandy Boyce, the Sedona resident who successfully led the effort to remove Flock cameras from her community, said Cottonwood residents packed Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, with seven speakers urging council members to place the city’s Flock contract on a future agenda for public discussion.
Boyce also noted that in June 2025, the Cottonwood City Council approved an expansion of its Flock contract from approximately $11,000 to $188,000—including a drone—as part of a consent agenda, without a separate public discussion of the surveillance technology.
Cottonwood’s next regularly scheduled City Council meeting, August 18th, has been canceled.