The Navajo Nation is bringing license plate reader cameras to its sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation under a new partnership with a controversial private 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 expansion comes as automatic license plate reader technology faces growing backlash across Arizona, where privacy advocates and some local officials have raised concerns over the widespread use of surveillance cameras.
Flock Safety currently partners with more than 60 Arizona law enforcement agencies, though some cities have begun backing away from the technology.
Flagstaff and Sedona ended their contracts with the company in 2025, while Chandler officials are weighing whether to renew theirs following lengthy public comment.
Earlier this year, Republican state Sen. Kevin Payne introduced legislation that would have established statewide standards governing automatic license plate reader systems used by law enforcement, but the measure died in the Arizona Senate in March.
Despite the controversy, Navajo officials said the cameras will serve as a critical investigative tool across one of the country’s most remote and underserved policing regions.
The Navajo Nation is the largest land area held by an Indigenous nation in the United States, covering roughly 27,000 square miles, according to Arizona News.
The Navajo Police Department operates with about one officer for every 1,000 residents, with officers often traveling more than 100 miles to answer calls and response times sometimes exceeding an hour.
Authorities say those challenges have fueled a public safety crisis that disproportionately affects Indigenous communities.
Indigenous women are murdered at rates of up to 10 times the national average, according to police. More than 10,000 Native Americans were reported missing in 2024, just over half of them women.
“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 criminal investigator said in a statement released 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 supports legislation creating guardrails for how license plate recognition data is used and shared while preserving the effectiveness of the technology as a public safety tool.
The Navajo Nation also warned that tampering with or damaging the cameras is a criminal 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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