Overview
- AJPD says an officer improperly used an Automated License Plate Reader to locate a family member by asking two dispatchers to run the person's plate and falsely framing the request as a welfare check, according to the department's statement Monday.
- The dispatchers raised concerns to a supervisor after assisting, and a separate police agency notified AJPD when the officer disclosed during a welfare-check request that he had already used ALPR data to find the relative.
- The department opened an internal investigation, placed the officer on administrative leave when the matter surfaced, completed the probe and the officer resigned before termination proceedings were finished.
- Apache Junction Police Chief Michael Pooley scheduled a 1 p.m. press briefing that will be livestreamed to explain the department's findings, the safeguards governing ALPR access and planned accountability measures.
- The case follows recent local rollbacks and audits of vendor-run plate-reader programs in the region — including Chandler ending its Flock cameras after an audit 'anomaly' and Pinal County declining to renew its contract — and underscores growing privacy and oversight concerns about ALPR systems.