One year ago, Tempe City Councilmember Bobby Nichols spoke out against Flock cameras as a concerned citizen at a council meeting. On Thursday night, his ordinance passed in a 6-1 vote to ban all automated license plate readers from the city.
ALPR technology, the systems of fixed or mobile cameras that automatically capture license plates and other vehicle identifiers, has grown controversial in recent months over fears of privacy violations. The city announced in August that it was removing its Flock cameras, one brand of ALPRs, and would not seek a replacement vendor.
Now, the city is barred from bringing the cameras back. The first measure of its kind enacted in Arizona.
"It's been an up and down journey trying to figure out exactly what we need to do to protect privacy rights in Tempe without hamstringing law enforcement, and I think we really found something that is going to work on both fronts," Nichols said.
According to the new ordinance, no city agencies may obtain or use ALPR systems. It also bans agencies from querying ALPR systems or data.
READ MORE: Tempe approves Axon contract to include non-ALPR cameras in police vehicles
Vice Mayor Arlene Chin was the only councilmember to vote against the measure. She said she agreed with the values that motivated the ban and the goal of creating safeguards around technology.
"However, I think the way it bans the wholesale use of technology seems a bit short-sighted to me," Chin said.
The ordinance includes a few exceptions meant to ensure law enforcement can solve crimes across jurisdictions. While Tempe residents and others at the meeting praised the ordinance, some raised concerns over those exceptions.
Exceptions to the ban
On Sept. 24, the City Council held its first hearing on the ordinance, and some councilmembers were not sold on the complete ban.
In the following weeks, Nichols compromised with the Council, expanding the exceptions included in the ordinance.
Other cities can provide Tempe with ALPR data, so long as the city does not request it as part of multi-jurisdictional investigations, search warrants or subpoenas.
Councilmember Doreen Garlid said the exceptions changed her vote. She said the first draft limited the city's ability to solve crime across multiple jurisdictions, which would threaten residents of Tempe and surrounding cities.
"I will say that Councilmember Nichols heard those concerns, heard concerns from others," Garlid said. "I have to give him kudos for listening and being respectful in those conversations, of not just wanting to listen to challenge but also to try to understand."
Mayor Corey Woods, as well as Councilmembers Nikki Amberg and Randy Keating, echoed that sentiment.
Valley advocates support the ordinance
A coalition of organizations has been fighting for this ban for months. East Valley Unite, the ACLU of Arizona and the Maricopa County Libertarian Party have been advocating to the Tempe City Council for an ALPR ban since August, Nathan Taylortaft, the co-director of East Valley Unite, said.
Taylortaft said the ordinance is an important step forward in their fight toward an all-encompassing ban.
"It gets the ball rolling for communities around the state and around the country to pass similar bans, and it's a big step in moving toward a complete ban here in Tempe," Taylortaft said.
Katelynn Contreras, a policy strategist at the ACLU of Arizona, told the City Council the ordinance's exceptions, particularly related to subpoenas, are too vague. However, she still encouraged the Council to pass the ordinance to create a foundation for protecting Tempe residents from privacy infringements.
"Policy making is an iterative process and waiting for the perfect version means your residents are without meaningful civil rights protections," Contreras said. "Tempe has been a leader in other areas and has a chance to be a leader now."
She said ALPR cameras create records that "can map a person's life" with major implications for the First and Fourth Amendments.
"These consequences fall hardest on immigrants, communities of color and anyone who may someday be on the wrong side of those in power or those who have power," she said. "Across the country and even here in Arizona, this data has been misused and abused."
Eric Fowler, the chair of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party, also shared concerns with the City Council regarding the exceptions to the ban. He said the original ordinance had been "butchered" from a popular total ban to a less powerful measure.
Fowler called for the Tempe Police Department to publicly report all uses of any ALPR data under the ordinance's exceptions.
"If the exceptions are as narrow as you've been told, that report should be short," Fowler said.
Nichols said he understands these concerns and will continue to support the groups in their fight for stronger prohibitions on ALPR usage.
"Until this technology is banned across the country, those concerns are definitely going to continue," he said. "But I'm really confident that the people who went up to speak this evening have the energy to continue this fight, and they will be continuing this fight, and I'm going to be in it with them all the way."
Taylortaft also expressed dissatisfaction with the exceptions, but said the ordinance passing is still a big win.
"We try to compromise as little as we can so that we can protect the constitutional rights of people in the East Valley as fully as we can," Taylortaft said. "But if we have to compromise to win, we will do so, and I'm glad we did it."
Taylortaft is a senior at ASU Preparatory Academy and takes classes at the ASU Tempe campus. Despite the ordinance not applying to the University, he said the ban will still impact ASU students.
READ MORE: Flock cameras to remain on ASU campus after Tempe shuts down its system
The University continues to use Flock cameras on its Tempe campus.
"This is a step toward protecting the rights of ASU students, because it protects them when they're off campus in the surrounding areas that they frequent, and it builds the momentum towards ending ALPRs on ASU's campus," Taylortaft said.
The ordinance will go into effect in mid-November.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Alan Deutschendorf III and Senna James.
Reach the reporter at sevoorhe@asu.edu.
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Sydney Voorhees is a Senior Reporter at The State Press. She is also an intern at Arizona PBS and a member of Delta Gamma Fraternity. This is her second semester with The State Press, working previously as a part-time Sci-Tech reporter.
