Flock Cameras and Mass Surveillance: What Biggs and Hobbs Said

EZCivics · Aug 30, 2026 · 5 min read

Summary: At an August 25 Arizona Police Association forum, Andy Biggs and Katie Hobbs answered the same Flock questions — separately. Biggs said the cameras have been abused and the state will probably have to step in. Hobbs said the state should set guardrails and leave deployment to local agencies. This brief records those answers, Article 2, Section 8 strong privacy clause, and the 2026 bills that did not pass. Mention of any candidate is not an endorsement.

ARIZONA — Flock cameras photograph passing plates, record video, and log time and location. Police use them to find stolen cars and suspects. Critics say the same network builds “pattern of life” files on every driver.

How the cameras actually work

@BabyD1111229 retold Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in April how Flock works.

 A council member asked if Flock builds a heat map of everywhere a car travels. The company said no. The council renewed 5–2. The next morning Chief Dean Smith opened the system, watched it generate that heat map, and withdrew his recommendation. The council rescinded 7–0.

@Hannibal9972485 walked through code WIRED pulled from Flock’s site August 19.

 OS Investigate, AI-powered surveillance tool developed by Flock Safety, (first called Nightshift) has 69 prompts and 45 tools that can reach plate scans, case files, 911 logs, and commercial databases with Social Security numbers, birth dates, phones, emails, relatives, and associates. WIRED reported it can identify drivers by movement alone — no plate, name, or crime required. Flock has said its technology “cannot recognize, identify, or track individuals.”

Those two records — a heat map the vendor had denied on the record, and software that can attach identity data to plate scans — are the product both governor candidates were asked to judge.

On August 25 both candidates spoke separately at the Arizona Police Association forum in downtown Phoenix. KTAR noted it was the only public policy format because Hobbs declined to debate Biggs.

What Andy Biggs said

“We are seeing an overwhelming rejection of Flock cameras and the state will probably have to step … in and say we’re not going to have Flock cameras. Here’s the deal, Flock cameras have been abused already. Flock cameras have now proudly announced that you can actually use their software to actually link that cellphone for instance with your license plate. That is a gross violation in my opinion of a free society where people expect to be able to have some measure of privacy without having their every move tracked.”

He also called it a “delicate balancing act” with “serious constitutional constraints.”

The next morning: “This isn’t a partisan issue, but it’s a clear difference between me and Katie Hobbs. We can find ways to support law enforcement without putting our civil liberties in danger.”

Campaign senior advisor Drew Sexton: “Arizona gubernatorial candidate @andybiggs4az said he would likely sign a bill that bans Flock cameras statewide if he is elected in November.”

What Katie Hobbs said

“I believe the state’s role is not telling local communities how to solve crimes, how to deploy technology in their communities, but our job is to put in place guardrails and safeguards so that tech is used responsibly in the right ways. Whether that’s around training, audits, whatever needs to happen. But it is not our job to tell communities how to enforce their laws … communities should be able to use that technology. I trust those local officials and leaders to make those decisions.”

The state can ban a technology, and there are entire chapters of code telling communities how they may or shall enforce the law. Hobbs did not say Arizona lacks that power. She said she would not use the governor’s office that way.

What the Arizona Constitution says

When a Goodyear councilman called ALPRs “constitutional and lawful on public roads,” Merissa Caldwell replied that “ALPRs aren’t Constitutional,” posted the clause, and pointed to https://www.whattheflock.us.

Arizona Constitution, Article 2, Section 8: “No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law.”

whattheflock.us argues warrantless, long-running location tracking disturbs those private affairs, and that training-and-password rules do not supply the “authority of law” the clause

requires. The clause limits what any Arizona government — state or city — may do.

What the 2026 Legislature left open

The session ran January 12 to June 13 and sent the governor no Flock statute.

Sen. Kevin Payne pitched Senate Bill 1111 as guardrails. https://www.whattheflock.us says those guardrails were not real. The draft used “official law-enforcement purposes,” added training and search logs, and made intentional misuse a Class 6 felony. That purposes list is so open-ended it does not stop fishing expeditions, pattern-of-life files, or vendor databases. SB1111 offered training, passwords, and case tracking — no hard deletion clock, no warrant rule for historical searches, no citizen right to see a file, no rules binding Flock. Passing it would have given the tracking grid statewide legal cover. Sen. Jake Hoffman made that argument on the floor. The bill died in March.

Hoffman then offered a strike-everything amendment to House Bill 2917: voter approval before a “government mass surveillance network,” short retention and destruction of non-hit data, a private right of action, and transparency reports. It cleared Senate Government. No final-day floor vote. On June 13 he pledged it would be “the first bill I introduce next session.” On August 26: “my striker on HB2917.”

Rep. Cody Reim called for limiting or eliminating Flock statewide.  “We do not consent!” After Sexton’s post he wrote, “Yes!!! Consider it drafted.”

Those are legislator statements, not a governor’s signature.

Cities moved while the state did not

In August, Surprise, Pinal County, and Chandler ended or announced ending Flock programs after misuse investigations. On August 26 Tempe turned its cameras off and said it would not replace the vendor; Cave Creek ended its contract. That is the rejection Biggs cited, and the “communities” Hobbs said should decide.

The citizen record: whattheflock.us and EZAZ.org

Residents blocked from official SB1111 stakeholder meetings published a five-tier amendment package at https://www.whattheflock.us, connected to https://www.ezaz.org: structural limits, closed loopholes, audits, citizen access and a right to sue, and a sunset. Frame: “real safety respects privacy.” Caldwell in February: imagine an opponent knowing every place you have driven for years; demand the citizen amendments or vote no.  EZAZ.org hosts Request-to-Speak training for the 2027 bill Hoffman has said will be first in line.

________

Any mention of political candidates is not an endorsement. This brief is voter education on stated positions and on the legislative record. It does not support or oppose any candidate for public office.