Navajo Nation partners with Flock Safety to deploy plate readers | Latest Tech News
The Navajo Nation is bringing license plate reader cameras to its sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation under a new partnership with a controversial non-public surveillance company.
The nation’s partnership with Flock Safety will see the Navajo Department of Criminal Investigation and the Navajo Nation Police Department deploy the company’s cameras across the reservation, which spans northwestern Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
The Navajo Nation is bringing automated license plate reader cameras to its sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation under a new partnership with non-public surveillance company Flock Safety. Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The enlargement comes as automated license plate reader technology faces growing backlash across Arizona, where privateness advocates and some local officers have raised issues over the widespread use of surveillance cameras.
Flock Safety presently partners with more than 60 Arizona law enforcement companies, though some cities have begun backing away from the technology.
Flagstaff and Sedona ended their contracts with the company in 2025, while Chandler officers are weighing whether or not to renew theirs following prolonged public remark.
Dr. Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation. Facebook/@PresidentNygren
Earlier this 12 months, Republican state Sen. Kevin Payne launched laws that would have established statewide requirements governing automated license plate reader systems used by law enforcement, but the measure died in the Arizona Senate in March.
Despite the controversy, Navajo officers said the cameras will serve as a important investigative device across one of the nation’s most distant and underserved policing areas.
The Navajo Nation is the most important land space held by an Indigenous nation in the United States, overlaying roughly 27,000 sq. miles, according to Arizona News.
Navajo officers said the cameras will serve as a important investigative device across one of the nation’s most distant and underserved policing areas. Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
The Navajo Police Department operates with about one officer for every 1,000 residents, with officers often touring more than 100 miles to reply calls and response instances sometimes exceeding an hour.
Authorities say those challenges have fueled a public security disaster that disproportionately impacts Indigenous communities.
Indigenous girls are murdered at charges of up to 10 instances the national average, according to police. More than 10,000 Native Americans had been reported lacking in 2024, just over half of them girls.
The Navajo Police Department operates with about one officer for every 1,000 residents, with officers often touring more than 100 miles to reply calls. Navajo Police Department
“It’ll benefit our department by helping us identify suspect vehicles in our open active investigations, whether that may be drug smuggling, child abductions, missing persons, homicides, and more,” a Navajo prison investigator said in a assertion launched Thursday.
“Flock will assist us by being our eyes in the community and help get dangerous subjects in custody as we navigate the shortage of manpower on the reservation. It is simply an added tool for us.”
Flock Safety has said it helps laws creating guardrails for how license plate recognition data is used and shared while preserving the effectiveness of the technology as a public security device.
Flock Safety has said it helps laws creating guardrails for how license plate recognition data is used and shared while preserving the effectiveness of the technology as a public security device. Navajo Police Department
The Navajo Nation is the most important land space held by an Indigenous nation in the United States. Getty Images
The Navajo Nation also warned that tampering with or damaging the cameras is a prison offense under Title 17 of the Navajo Nation Code.
Earlier this month, the LAPD suspended its deal with Flock Safety over a disagreement with the company over who controls the footage.
Major cities in Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan have severed ties with Flock, while departments in Georgia and Oklahoma continue to use it.
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