Police Surveillance Technology

Avondale Police Department records document several technologies used to collect, search, share, or review information for law-enforcement purposes. These include license plate reader cameras, police drones, body-worn cameras, and regional data-sharing systems.

This page separates what City records currently document from proposals or details that have not yet been verified.

License plate readers

Deployment status as reported October 22, 2026:

• 14 deployed locations listed by the City.
• 1 damaged original camera requiring replacement.
• 58 additional approved cameras not deployed.
• 59 proposed location entries, including the replacement.

The agreements cover 73 ALPR units, but this is not a count of operational cameras. The City’s response does not independently verify that every listed deployed unit is functioning.

View the 14 deployed locations | View the 59 proposed locations

Current system documented by the City

The FY2027 City Manager’s Recommended Budget described 15 license plate reader (LPR) cameras throughout Avondale. On October 22, 2026, the City identified 14 currently deployed locations and stated that the 15th original camera had been damaged in a vehicle collision and requires replacement.

The document says officers and dispatchers use the cameras to identify and query vehicles associated with crimes and calls for service.

It also states that the camera database allows personnel to search for vehicles through cameras shared by more than 140 law-enforcement agencies nationwide.

The City describes real-time alerts associated with categories including missing persons, vehicles used in felonies, stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, and other law-enforcement alerts.

Expansion and Flock Safety agreements

Avondale’s FY2027 recommended budget requested 58 additional license plate reader cameras to expand coverage into areas without existing cameras. The tentative budget also listed a $239,000 ongoing funding request for this expansion.

Newly obtained contracts provide more detail. The City’s January 2024 Flock Safety agreement covered 15 Falcon ALPR units. A March 2026 amendment identifies:

The agreements cover 73 ALPR units: 15 original and 58 additional contracted cameras. On October 22, 2026, the City stated that the 58 additional approved cameras had not been deployed. It listed 14 currently deployed locations and one damaged original camera requiring replacement. These are reported deployment classifications, not independent operational tests.

Locations supplied by Avondale (October 22, 2026)

On October 22, 2026, the City identified 14 currently deployed camera locations and stated that one of the 15 original cameras had been damaged in a vehicle collision and requires replacement.

The City also stated that 58 additional approved ALPR cameras have not been deployed. Its response provided 59 proposed location entries, including the replacement site for the damaged camera.

These are City-reported locations and deployment classifications. They do not independently establish that every deployed camera is currently functioning, or that all proposed locations are final.

Currently deployed camera locations

14 locations listed as deployed by the City on October 22, 2026.

The following 14 entries preserve the City’s street references and directional designations:

Damaged original camera: The City identified its 15th camera as needing replacement and associated it with proposed location 19, Dysart Road and Interstate 10 northbound.

Proposed camera locations

59 proposed location entries: 58 additional approved cameras and one replacement for the damaged original camera.

These 59 entries include the planned replacement of the damaged original camera. They should not be interpreted as 59 additional cameras beyond the 58-camera expansion.

Location inventory notes

The City’s response includes several entries requiring additional clarification, including the direction BE, the street designation 111th Ave, and two spellings of Jimmie/Jimme Johnson Road. They are retained as supplied rather than silently corrected.

These location descriptions generally identify intersections and travel directions, not surveyed installation coordinates. No precise camera mounting positions have been independently verified.

How long is ALPR information retained?

The original Flock order form specifies a 30-day retention period. The agreement also addresses rolling deletion and the City’s ability to export or separately archive information.

The 30-day setting therefore does not establish that every copy of a record is permanently deleted after 30 days.

Searching and sharing vehicle information

The FlockOS product description includes vehicle searches by plate, location, time, and identifying characteristics. It also describes alerts, hot lists, community camera access, and statewide or nationwide lookup and sharing capabilities.

These are features described in the agreement. The released contracts do not independently establish which optional features or sharing arrangements Avondale has activated.

The agreement also describes Flock ownership of its hardware.

Earlier LPR history

Avondale’s documented use of license plate reader technology predates the current program.

A historical City budget describes implementation and training for an LPR system around 2008. The document says external cameras could read and store license plates and reports that approximately 50,000 plates had been collected during an early deployment period.

The FY2023 final budget later reported that the Police Department had launched a license plate reader program and used it to identify two stolen vehicles.

Because older City records already document LPR use, OWVAZ does not interpret the FY2023 wording as evidence that FY2023 was Avondale’s first-ever use of license plate readers.

The FY2025 final budget also describes testing cameras functioning as license plate readers at intersections. The City says these cameras capture an image of vehicles passing through an intersection and can notify police when a vehicle of interest passes a monitored location.

Police drones

Avondale had an established police drone program before the FY2027 budget cycle.

The FY2022 final budget documents a new drone program and says seven staff members were trained as licensed drone pilots.

The FY2023 final budget reports that two additional drones were added.

By the FY2027 recommended budget, the Police Department described a program consisting of 16 drones assigned to officers who had completed FAA training and received drone pilot licenses.

Drone as First Responder

The FY2027 recommended budget describes a proposed Drone as First Responder (DFR) model.

The City’s description involves a drone stored in an enclosed rooftop docking station that could be deployed by trained personnel to calls for service.

The document says the system could provide information to responding officers before or during their arrival.

The FY2027 supplemental-request summary lists a $120,000 one-time Public Safety Drone Program request.

Flock drone equipment and services

The March 2026 Flock amendment includes drone-response technology. The listed products include Aerodome radar, an M4TD drone and Dock 3 package, and Flock911 integration.

The equipment descriptions establish what was contracted, not whether the systems are currently flying or whether FAA approvals were issued.

Who owns the drone equipment and related information?

The drone-services addendum states that Flock retains ownership of its hardware.

The agreement also distinguishes Customer Data from certain Flock Drone IP, which can include flight logs, telemetry, radar-derived information, connected-device information, and aggregated usage data.

Flock receives certain contractual rights to create and market analysis or insights derived from the information covered by those provisions.

This distinction matters when evaluating who controls information generated by the technology. The contract does not, by itself, establish that Flock owns every image recorded for Avondale or sells identifiable police surveillance footage.

Body-worn cameras

Avondale Police Department’s command-staff page explicitly refers to an Axon Body Worn Camera Program.

This establishes Axon in connection with Avondale’s body-worn-camera program.

It does not establish that Axon supplies Avondale’s license plate readers or drone systems.

FY2027 budget materials also contain a separate $25,000 ongoing request for body-worn-camera redaction software.

Regional and interagency data sharing

The FY2026 final budget reports that Avondale assigned one full-time dispatcher to the West Valley Real-Time Crime Center.

The FY2027 recommended budget proposed $103,000 for Police Data Sharing, consisting of $75,000 in ongoing funding and $28,000 in one-time funding.

The proposed platform would combine law-enforcement records into a searchable system to support information sharing between agencies.

These records do not establish that the Police Data Sharing platform, the Real-Time Crime Center, and the existing license plate reader network are the same system.

Flock Safety procurement and contract costs

The City’s 2026 expansion purchase order totals $303,490, including $180,000 for ALPR equipment, $100,000 for drone-response equipment and services, and $23,490 in sales tax.

The March 2026 amendment separately lists a $475,000 net annual recurring contractual amount.

These are different financial measures, not proof of actual payments. The related purchase order and invoice should not be counted as separate purchases.

The Avondale FY2027 budget page includes the historical purchase orders, recurring contract rate, and document references.

What the public record does not yet show

Remaining camera deployment questions

The City’s response resolved the missing location-list issue and confirmed that the additional 58 approved cameras had not been deployed as of that response. It did not supply device-by-device operating logs, verified mounting coordinates, or an installation schedule for the proposed expansion.

Other unanswered questions

The records reviewed do not establish:

• Avondale’s complete ALPR access and audit policies or its specific enabled interagency-sharing agreements.
• When the 58 additional approved ALPR cameras will be installed or activated, whether proposed sites will change, and whether each listed deployed unit is currently functioning.
• Whether the contracted drone-response systems are operating or have obtained the necessary FAA authorizations.
• The exact vendor or product associated with the separate FY2027 Police Data Sharing request.
• The actual payments made under the Flock purchase orders and invoices.

The FY2027 budget separately identifies a $239,000 State RICO funding assignment. Its similarity to the earlier $239,000 camera funding request does not establish that the final appropriation paid for the Flock expansion.