During World War II, engineers John Barker Sr. and Ben Midlock developed a Doppler radar system made from soldered coffee cans to track the sink rate of landing aircraft. Their invention helped Grumman Aircraft Corporation figure out why the landing gear on its Catalina aircraft sustained so much damage during landing.

After the war, Barker and Midlock adapted the same technology to measure the speed of vehicles. In 1947, the Connecticut State Police began using a civilian version of their radar technology known as the Electro-Matic Radar Speed Meter.

The rollout of radar technology in law enforcement was chaotic. Early units were massive metal boxes mounted on police cruisers or tripods along the side of the road, sparking public anxiety and conspiracies that they were covert spying devices or weaponized death rays.

As radar became more widespread, communities had to reckon with engineering and legislative challenges. If three cars passed a radar gun simultaneously, officers were left to guess which car was speeding and sometimes issued false citations. Some communities saw an opportunity to raise money by setting speed traps. In 1979, a Miami judge threw out more than 80 speeding tickets after defense attorneys proved that electrical interference had caused a radar gun to clock a stationary palm tree traveling faster than the legal speed limit.

Over time, states passed laws limiting traffic ticket revenue, courts established standards for radar evidence, manufacturers introduced digital filters to eliminate ghost readings, and officers received more vigorous training. Radar became more reliable with each advancement and today it is one of the most trusted tools in traffic safety.

Law enforcement stands at a remarkably similar technological crossroads today with Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), sometimes called Flock cameras.

Both of us live in Prescott. Our families are here and our lives are rooted in this community. We drive the same roads that you do and shop at many of the same places. Conceding that we have all consented to a degree of corporate surveillance via the smartphones in our pockets, we are fundamentally uninterested in having our families

surveilled with government face-recognition cameras or our whereabouts analyzed and sold to private entities. We share the public’s concerns about abuses of ALPR technology in other communities that we have heard about on the news. None of that aligns with what we want for our community.

Learning from the past, and from the experience of other communities, ALPR cameras in Prescott have been limited to use as a strictly bounded investigative tool. The cameras are not equipped with any kind of facial or other biometric recognition. You’ll be relieved to know they also do not have death rays. Their function is pretty simple: when a car drives by on certain public streets, the camera takes a picture of the car and reads the government-issued license plate. If that car is known to be stolen, associated with an active criminal investigation or warrant, or connected to a missing person, police officers are notified and able to take appropriate action.

The City owns all of the data it collects from ALPRs and our policies strictly limit access. Data is shared only with other in-state agencies and is erased every 30 days. We doubt that any corporation with an app would want our data, but even so it is never sold for any reason. An officer found abusing ALPR technology in Prescott would be subject to termination.

With appropriate guardrails in place, ALPR technology has become a valuable public safety tool in Prescott. In the past year alone, ALPR cameras have directly contributed to solving cases involving felony theft, narcotics trafficking, impaired driving, and multiple stolen vehicles. These aren’t abstract statistics—they are real results that protected victims, returned stolen property, and removed dangerous individuals and drugs from our streets.

In one recent case, officers used ALPR cameras to locate a vehicle belonging to a felony theft suspect. Not only was the suspect identified and arrested, but the stolen property was quickly recovered and returned to its rightful owner. In another incident, detectives were searching for a stalking suspect who was also listed as a missing person. A Flock alert located the suspect’s vehicle, allowing officers to intervene safely and intercept dangerous drugs before they could be sold.

When medical staff reported a potentially impaired driver leaving a facility, ALPR cameras helped officers determine the vehicle’s direction of travel in a timely way that enabled officers to intercept the car and prevent further danger on the roadway. ALPR technology has helped locate the vehicles of sexual assault suspects, preventing further harm and bringing justice for the victims, and vehicles related to illegal drug activity, seizing illegal substances and taking offenders into custody.

Time matters when a vehicle is stolen. In several cases, Flock alerts have allowed officers to find stolen cars within hours. Often, the recovery of the stolen vehicle has also led to the recovery of other contraband like forged checks, paraphernalia, or stolen license plates. Crime often escalates without swift action, and ALPR technology gives our police force a critical ability to interrupt it early.

In an era when communities demand transparency, accountability, and measurable outcomes from their police departments, we believe ALPR technology should be held to the same standard. New technology should not be adopted simply because it is new, nor rejected simply because it is unfamiliar. It should be evaluated honestly, tested carefully, and surrounded by appropriate safeguards.

This is what we have done in Prescott.

ALPR cameras are not a replacement for good police work and they are not a license for unlimited government surveillance. They are a tool—just like radar. When used for legitimate investigations, protected by clear policies, subject to accountability, and paired with strict limits on data retention and access, they help police officers protect victims, recover stolen property, respond quickly, and solve crimes that would otherwise go cold.

We love Prescott. We love the quality of life our families enjoy in a place that is both safe and free. Used responsibly, ALPR technology has proven that it can help preserve both.

Dallin Kimble, City Manager of Prescott

Dallin Kimble has served as City Manager since May 2024.

Contact: dallin.kimble@prescott-az.gov | 928-777-1435

Address: City Hall, 201 S. Cortez St., Prescott, AZ 86301

Jon Brambila, Interim Chief of Police

Jon Brambila has proudly served with the Prescott Police Department for 27 years.

Contact: jon.brambila@prescott-az.gov | 928-777-1918

Address: 222 S. Marina St, Prescott, AZ 86303