Tempe Mayor Corey Woods (D) officially announced the cancellation of the city’s $80,000 contract with Flock Safety, a provider of automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology. The move comes as municipal leaders across the country increasingly weigh the benefits of high-tech surveillance against civil liberty concerns.

In a recent interview with NewsNation, Mayor Woods defended the decision, stating that the primary driver for the cancellation was the risk of data misuse. While the technology is marketed to police departments as a tool to solve crimes and track stolen vehicles, Woods indicated that the city concluded the potential for abuse outweighed the operational utility of the cameras.

Flock Safety, which operates a network of cameras that capture vehicle data and share it with law enforcement agencies, has faced scrutiny in various jurisdictions regarding how long data is stored and who has access to it. While the mayor’s office has emphasized the need for privacy protections, the decision effectively halts the expansion of this specific surveillance infrastructure within Tempe. The city has not yet announced if it will pursue alternative technologies or if the police department will be required to adjust its investigative strategies in the absence of these automated tools.