By Bear Howard
Sedona, AZ — I’ve been on vacation, spending time enjoying the great outdoors, but this article that appeared in the Red Rock News, our local Sedona pulp newspaper, got my attention. With a little research, I have put together this rebuttal.
Read it and then read the article in question and see which “reality” you prefer.
Reframing the Narrative: When Sensationalism Undermines Public Safety
The article in question presents Sedona’s modest deployment of 12 automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras as a sweeping act of Orwellian overreach. But beneath the provocative headlines and selective quotes lies a more mundane and sensible truth: this is not a surveillance state—it’s a tool for public safety.
Distortion #1: “Mass Surveillance” in a Town of 9,600?
Framing this local initiative as the precursor to a national surveillance grid is both misleading and irresponsible. The technology being deployed in Sedona reads license plates—not faces, not private messages, not movement inside homes. It’s used to check plates against law enforcement databases for stolen vehicles, missing persons, Amber Alerts, and active warrants. That’s not mass surveillance—that’s targeted, situational response.
This is the same type of camera system found on police cruisers, at toll booths, and in most major cities and airports. It’s also been used successfully in nearby Cottonwood and Prescott without triggering mass protests or constitutional collapse.
Distortion #2: “No Crime Here, So Why Bother?”
Yes, Sedona’s crime rate is low. But complacency is not a public safety strategy. A proactive police force doesn’t wait for a crime wave to prepare—it invests in tools that allow them to respond faster, protect more people, and deter crime before it happens. That’s called good policing.
Claiming that we don’t “need” these cameras because Sedona hasn’t had a crime surge is like saying we don’t need fire trucks because there hasn’t been a fire this year. It’s shortsighted and reactive thinking.
Distortion #3: “Secretive, Undemocratic, and Hidden”
The article emphasizes the lack of a formal City Council vote or robust public debate as if this were a covert CIA operation. In reality, these purchases were made using the general fund during public budget hearings—a standard procedure for operational decisions like police software, radar units, or vehicle repairs. Not every decision requires a town hall or a referendum.
The city has been transparent post-installation, naming camera locations and answering questions publicly. This isn’t evidence of concealment—it’s an operational strategy meant to protect the integrity of active law enforcement tools. You don’t announce where your speed traps or DUI checkpoints will be, either.
Distortion #4: “Big Brother Is Watching”
Hyperbolic quotes from Facebook users claiming “we’re being watched” make great copy but poor arguments. These cameras don’t track where law-abiding citizens go. They don’t record who you’re with. They don’t peer into your car. They scan plates—data that’s already publicly visible to anyone standing at an intersection.
Every plate is encrypted, stored temporarily (30 days max), and accessed only for legitimate police use. It’s no more intrusive than a police officer writing down your plate manually—but it’s faster and more accurate.
Distortion #5: “Security Over Liberty”
This is the heart of the philosophical debate. But invoking Benjamin Franklin to argue against every modern safety tool is lazy logic. If we apply that standard literally, we wouldn’t have airport security, CCTV in banks, or even locked doors at schools.
Public safety tools can coexist with civil liberties—if they are implemented with oversight, auditing, access logs, and defined policy. Sedona has stated those policies clearly.
The real threat to liberty isn’t a city trying to track stolen cars and protect its residents. It’s misinformation that stirs up public distrust without offering real solutions.
Final Thought
The real distortion is not in the technology—it’s in the storytelling. This article cherry-picks quotes, leans heavily on fear, and undermines reasonable law enforcement tools that are commonplace across the country. If we want a safer community, we need to allow law enforcement the tools to do their jobs—with guardrails, yes, but also with trust.
Let’s have honest debates about privacy, but let’s also recognize when technology is being used responsibly. Public safety should not be sacrificed on the altar of sensationalism.
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6 Comments
Great detailed explanation Bear! Some of the very same people complaining about the system are the very ones demanding closed borders and deportations. This is the exact same system used at CBP checkpoints, USDA Dept of Agriculture checkpoints and is in most municipalities around the country. It is part of our border security which contrary to King Minus’s conception is not linear but is in concentric and overlapping circles that have concentric and overlapping systems just like these. The military uses a similar system for base and embassy security. On today’s battlefield our military takes biometrics from every foreign national they encounter be it a combatant or non combatant it has led to the preemption of enemy action. Had we had such a system 30 some years ago the OKC Bombing might not have occurred, 25+ years ago perhaps 9/11 would have been thwarted on the ground. Sure they might catch someone doing stoopid stuff like drag racing through West Sedona or Oak Creek in between our departments shift change which the dragsters seem to be aware of. But primarily it is used as you have depicted. TSA also uses this system to screen for passengers with active warrants, criminally affiliated, missing persons, terrorist and even foreign agents, military and diplomats.
Sedona does not have a high rate of crime but it does have frequent traffic stops resulting in large drug and or contraband seizures. We do have people “disappearing out of thin air” here as well as is the case of Ms. Yolan Miller who went for a drive and then vanished despite her car being found or the LDS polygamist who was recently sentenced to prison for kidnapping among other things. This system could and would aid in combating these types of crimes hopefully before it is too late to do so. As Bear stated many a police cruiser are also adorned with the very same technology and soon police body cameras will be interfaced with them.
If the system were to be abused and it certainly could be, there are already laws on the books making it a crime for law enforcement officers and agencies to use it for anything other than it’s intended purpose. Just as the NCIC LEIN system used by law enforcement to run plates and check ID’s, gun and vehicle serial/VIN numbers and peoples Criminal histories etc. can only be used by a certified logged in operator and can only be used for official purposes. Violators can face loss of Certificate, disbarment from Law Enforcement, 2 years imprisonment and other serious charges. So again, yes it could be abused but it’s highly unlikely it would be.
Any cameras that monitor the public are kinda Big Brotherly. They most definitely are in China. Since DOGE accessed the personal data of every American without cause or justification, I’d be far more concerned about that! Especially when our current administration is so fond of other Authoritarian regimes and have sour puss disdain for our own intelligence and military communities and loves making easy money above everything else. I’m sure it’s a two way street too! How else do you think Trump got previous critics like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and most every other GOP politician bend the knee? Perhaps someone had their countries skilled hackers dig up Kompromat material on each and every one of them maybe even Trump himself which may be why he refuses to properly admonish Putin for his war crimes against Ukraine? Trump may have actually been able to achieve peace between the two had he listened to our military and intelligence communities. After all Zelenskyy has proven that he does in fact have the necessary cards. So rather than suffer a ginormous defeat at the hands of Ukraine Putin is now dedicating himself and his military to the development and mass production of their ominous and lethal missile the Oreshnik which they tested upon Ukraine earlier this year. The plan is to make Ukraine look like Gaza now does-Flatter than a Johnny Cake. And it could’ve all been avoided had Trump done the right thing and defend Ukraine from Russian aggression by providing them the tools to do the job themselves. All of the realty and mineral rights deals could have been settled afterward. But alas Trump has decided Putin somehow deserves to occupy and and eliminate the Ukrainian country and people. Iran is blowing up in his face too! Could’ve easily diplomatically avoided conflict by sticking with the monitoring and observing of their nuclear activities which would’ve meant eyes and ears on the ground rather than trusting the President of an Authoritarian regime known as Israel said we could do the same with Saddam Hussein by bombing Iraq and toppling Saddam he said the rest of the Iraqi’s wouldn’t want to fight us and the country would be ours. Boy was he wrong now wasn’t he?
Benjamin Netanyahu:
Netanyahu, who was not the Israeli President at the time of the US invasion of Iraq, stated in 2002 that Israel was certain Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that the United States “must do something about this”.
He also claimed that toppling Saddam Hussein would have “enormous positive reverberations on the region”.
In 2003, Netanyahu stated he told the US that invading Iraq would lead to a swift fall of Saddam Hussein.
No different than the bill of goods he sold us over the recent strikes upon Iran.
“Let’s have honest debates about privacy,” writes the guy hiding beyond a pseudonym and AI-generated profile picture.
Sure, buddy.
Whatever.
When ICE arrests your neighbors because of Sedona ‘s ALPRS or Flock Safety has a data breach and everyone’s data is compromised, or Chinese, Russian or Iranian hackers gain access or Trump’s DOJ starts integrating Americans movements into prosecutions, you’ll be changing your tune … whoever you are “Bear” or “Scott” or “James”
Mr Bartlett our data has already been compromised a dozen times over between the illegal and unlawful access to our tax and other government data by DOGE and MAGA, the millions of hackers foreign and domestic (I’ve received about 8 notices that my info had been compromised and got the worthless “free year” of credit monitoring).
What do you care who calls themselves what especially in the age of nut jobs who prefer physical violence, hacking and trolling of the people they disagree with. Who knows who you or anyone else online anywhere are who they say they are? What does it matter? What matters is whether their message is one based on fact and truth not disinformation and lies.
And the Trump regime has already deported thousands based solely upon color of skin and personal movements. Look at the case of Abrego Garcia. First the DOJ confesses he was wrongfully deported because of an administrative error. Then it was the story that he accessed the country illegally which was untrue, then they concocted a faaaarrrr fetched description of tattoos on his knuckles as proof that he is MS-13 which he is not and the tattoo interpretation was laughable to say the very least. Next King Trump and his Criminal Crusaders say he could be ordered returned to the US only for them to TRUMP up more faaaarrr fetched bullshit charges of having transported thousands of illegal migrants (which is a misdemeanor crime) based upon phone pings and gps tracking that proves nothing more than his having driven a vehicle while properly going through the legal immigration process he started many years prior and had been granted immunity from prosecution because of his testimony and very real threat from the actual MS-13 gang (hardly a meets the definitions of a terror organization). So yeah AI is and has been used and abused by the Trump Administration to illegally track movement and deport people.
In this day and age I find this outrage on the funny side/
You have cell phones that have so much information on you, your head would spin! And guess what, it tracks you on top of it!
I saw the one by Natty Gs, its focused on rear license plats, not sure If all are that way? If so, they dont even know who is driving then.
Is it Big Brother, sure it is. But what you just crawled out from under a rock and figured that out?
Were you ok with radar? Red light cameras? Police cars with full internet access and your whole driving history?
Just find it amazing, if your looking for something to be outraged about, I have a list with hundreds of more pressing matters.
Must be me?
WS Dave
Once again you said it better than I. Cellphones not only track individuals whether they think they have tacking shut down or not. They also store everything we search, photograph, write, send and receive. Which is why the first thing Law Enforcement attempts to access during detentions and arrests especially at borders, airport and sea ports which anyone going through them can be subjected to. They also get their biometrics scanned and saved to various data bases.
This can result in some valid arrest and interventions of crimes in progress.
There are private security cameras on and in nearly every American home and business recording people both knowingly and unknowingly. This is primarily done to prevent break ins and thefts but also captures many crimes occurring around them which is why you see all of the CSI type shows going around crimes scenes and requesting to access security footage. RING however “was” allowing Law Enforcement to access anyone’s home security cameras with or without a warrant, knowledge or permissions. Which is the sort of abuse I have mentioned previously. They were sued and allegedly the practice has been limited to only valid warranted searches. Of course now that was prior to the Law, Constitution and Court ignoring Trump Administration and MAGA I’m certain that has all been tossed or is being actively ignored.
I can google earth just about any property/location on earth with the exception of some military installations and zoom in enough to see license plate numbers of vehicles parked there and a complete view of the entire property. These images come from a combination of drone and satellite imagery.
There are dozens of ways our images and privacy are captured and violated on a daily basis.
Question is do we use it as a tool to combat crime and criminal activity or do we use it against our own citizenry? And again I think that is all determine by our elected officials and public servants who either act lawfully and only use these technologies within the scope and limits of the law, or corrupt criminal elected officials and cops. There are/were many many laws on the books to prevent such abuses. But when we have an Administration who feels themselves above the law, Congress and the courts despite having been convicted of numerous felony crimes, all those safeguards become null and void despite still being illegal.
As WS Dave has stated, there are more important things going on to worry about. And yet the two are interrelated. The Trump Administration is actively confiscating the cellphones of anyone and everyone they detain. Look at the Abrego Garcia case where they definitely went through his phone with a very fine tooth comb to track his movements, see his photos, contacts, downloads and messaging only to concoct a bogus interpretation of his smiley face and crucifix tattoos on his knuckles (not gang related in any way- google gangs tattoos, graffiti and symbols law enforcement has compiled numerous databases of them available publicly online). They also claim because his phone and vehicle tracked his movements that it somehow proves without evidence that he was smuggling illegal migrants while doing so.
It’s a double edged sword. Could we live without such technology? Yes we could but it would set legitimate law enforcement back decades if we did. So what’s the answer? I believe stiffer legislation, safeguards and oversight intended to prevent such abuses could help significantly. But again we are being run by a lawless government who cannot be held accountable for anything they do according to their very corrupted MAGA Judges in the SCOTUS.
And lastly, just so you know- The USSS, FBI, US Marshals, CBP and others have aircraft continuously flying over our towns and cities eavesdropping on cellphone conversations and monitoring email and text messaging. This is primarily done on and around our borders, during searches for escaped or wanted criminals but also any time the POTUS, VP or any other number of government officials are on the move or staying somewhere outside of DC to monitor what they claim are “imminent active threats” picked up in chatter collections. And these aircraft have flown into and out of the Sedona/Yavapai County Airport.