Chandler City Council delays vote on Flock camera contract until at least mid-July

On Thursday night, the Chandler City Council delayed a vote on whether to merge and renew contracts with controversial tech company Flock until at least mid-July.

Chandler currently has about 40 Flock cameras that read license plates and produce alerts, which are sent to police.

About the same number of people told the City Council to cut ties with the company. Some in the crowd held signs saying get the Flock out of Chandler.

Shane Strong said he’s pro law enforcement, but: “This is the definition of dystopian corporate panopticon. It treats every single Chandler resident as a suspect in a rolling, never-ending lineup. What is most un-American about this technology is that it renders us guilty until proven innocent."

Police Chief Bryan Chapman said one Flock camera that was pointed at a school was removed during the roughly three hours the council considered the contract.

But the council stopped short of turning off all Flock cameras.

“We get some information from them, but we give a lot of information to them. And I’m concerned that we become a data feed into a large and unwarranted surveillance and data gathering system,” said Luther Johnson, a Chandler resident.

Councilmember OD Harris called for turning off Flock cameras until the contract is taken up again in July, but he did not get support from other members.