Goodyear police officer investigated for misusing Flock license plate reader
The Goodyear Police Department is investigating an officer's suspected misuse of the Flock automated license plate reader system after an audit identified concerning activity in July 2026. The case is the third suspected misuse incident reported by a Phoenix-area police agency within a week.
What happened
During a July 2026 audit of the Flock automated license plate reader system, the Goodyear Police Department identified activity that raised concerns about an officer's use of the system. One officer was placed on leave pending a criminal investigation.
Reported impact
The incident was the third suspected misuse case reported by a Valley police agency in less than a week, following similar allegations involving officers in Apache Junction and Chandler.
Index analysis
The Flock system uses artificial intelligence to extract license plate numbers and vehicle information from street camera images and save the data to the cloud. When officers search the system, they must include their name, a law enforcement reason, and a case number, with that information saved in an electronic log. Flock Safety has implemented an audit tool that automatically flags unusual activity in department search logs.
Governance controls
The Goodyear Police Department conducted an audit of the Flock system that identified the anomalous activity, triggering an internal investigation.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.