Unsurveilled Arizona

The statewide objective

Unsurveilled Arizona works toward the removal or substantial restriction of warrantless automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance in Arizona communities — and toward a model Arizona policy or ordinance that addresses all ALPR vendors, not just any single company. Replacing one vendor with another does not change what these systems collect about people suspected of no crime.

An Arizona-specific constitutional foundation

Article II, §8 of the Arizona Constitution provides that no person “shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law.” Unsurveilled Arizona is researching and developing arguments under this provision, which may offer an important independent basis for reform alongside the Fourth Amendment. See the constitutional framing and the sources library for the underlying materials.

How the work is sequenced

The East Valley is the proving ground → Arizona is the first statewide objective → the long-term goal is a reusable national framework under Unsurveilled.

The East Valley effort is designed to produce research methods, messaging, public-records templates, policy proposals, volunteer procedures, and campaign materials that can be reused elsewhere. Arizona is the first statewide test of that model. If the approach proves useful, the same framework can support independent state and local chapters nationwide without changing Unsurveilled’s foundational principles.

We work the region rather than a single town for a practical reason: these cities share data with each other, their residents cross municipal boundaries constantly, and their councils watch each other before voting. A precedent set in one East Valley city is immediately usable in the next six.

What the Arizona work should produce

Beyond any single policy outcome, the Arizona campaign is building a reusable toolkit for other communities:

• Public-records request templates
• A research checklist for documenting local ALPR deployments
• Model presentations and council remarks
• A model ordinance / policy framework covering all vendors
• Fact sheets and carefully sourced graphics
• Responses to common pro-surveillance arguments
• A local chapter guide

Active local work

• Unsurveilled East Valley — seven municipalities where the research model is being built first.
• Warrant Required — the statewide ALPR campaign, an Unsurveilled initiative.

Beyond the East Valley, Arizona has already seen several jurisdictions end or decline license plate programs. Those decisions are recorded in The Decision Record, which is the fastest way to show an Arizona council that a comparable community has already worked through this question.