Apache Junction, Ariz. officer misused Flock license-plate cameras to track his wife, resigned before termination

On April 19, 2026, Apache Junction, Arizona police officer Joshua McDaniel misused the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader (ALPR) system to try to locate his wife during a personal dispute, Police Chief Michael Pooley said. McDaniel asked Apache Junction Police Department dispatchers to run his wife's license plate, framing it as a welfare check, and separately used the department's ALPR network to track her car to Casa Grande. During a call to the Casa Grande Police Department requesting a welfare check on his wife, McDaniel mentioned that he had already used Apache Junction's license-plate readers to locate her vehicle there; Casa Grande police alerted Apache Junction to the disclosure.

Apache Junction opened an internal investigation the next day, placed McDaniel on administrative leave, and restricted his system access. Pooley said the department concluded its investigation about two weeks before the August 10, 2026 press conference at which he announced the outcome, and that McDaniel resigned shortly after the investigation closed. Pooley said McDaniel, an approximately 18-month veteran of the department, would have been fired had he not resigned, and that Arizona has no state law making the misuse a crime -- though he said he believes it should be.

The disclosure came amid a wave of Flock/ALPR-misuse cases surfacing at Phoenix-area departments within the same week, including a Chandler officer's resignation over similar conduct, Tempe's decision to stop sharing ALPR data, and Surprise's suspension of its ALPR program; Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple also declined to renew his agency's Flock contract, citing Fourth Amendment concerns. Despite the incident, Pooley said Apache Junction would continue using its roughly 35 Flock cameras.