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

Current system documented by the City

The FY2027 City Manager’s Recommended Budget states that Avondale Police Department operates 15 license plate reader (LPR) cameras throughout the city.

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.

Proposed FY2027 expansion

The FY2027 recommended budget requested 58 additional license plate reader cameras.

The stated purpose was to increase the number of cameras to provide citywide coverage in areas where cameras were not already present.

The request was:

• $239,000 ongoing
• $0 one-time
• $239,000 total annual request

The FY2027 tentative budget continued to list the same 58-camera request and amount.

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.

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.

Separately, the FY2027 recommended budget describes a Police Data Sharing request of:

• $75,000 ongoing
• $28,000 one-time
• $103,000 total

The City describes the proposed system as a nationwide data-integration platform intended to combine otherwise separate law-enforcement records into a searchable system and support interagency information sharing.

OWVAZ does not currently treat the Police Data Sharing system, the West Valley Real-Time Crime Center, and the 140-plus-agency LPR camera database as the same system. The public records establish these facts separately.

What the public record does not yet show

The earlier 58-camera LPR request and the final budget’s State RICO funding assignment are both documented at $239,000. The matching amounts do not, by themselves, establish that the final State RICO funding paid for the earlier 58-camera request.

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Public records reviewed by OWVAZ do not yet establish the following details:

• the vendor operating or supplying Avondale’s current LPR network,
• the contract or purchase order for the current LPR system,
• the procurement vehicle for the proposed 58-camera expansion,
• the precise retention period for LPR records,
• the City’s detailed LPR access and audit policy,
• the formal data-sharing agreement governing the LPR network,
• the vendor for the proposed DFR system,
• the final deployment status of the 58-camera expansion,
• the final deployment status of DFR,
• or the exact vendor or product behind the FY2027 Police Data Sharing request.

These details will remain unidentified unless supported by additional public records.