Protest monitoring

A city email lists monitoring a student protest as a camera-system win.

CGPD says it does not use the cameras to monitor First Amendment activity.

That's not true.

Casa Grande tells residents the cameras track vehicles, not people, and are not used to watch First Amendment activity. On January 30, 2026, a deputy chief emailed command staff a list of "notable wins" from the system's first ten days of live monitoring. One of them: "Monitoring of a student protest at City Hall."

The same email says the officer watching the cameras can "identify involved parties" and "monitor activity prior to patrol arrival." Officials say the system does not track individuals while counting exactly that as a success.

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The claim and the record

The handout promises more than the policy does.

The city told the council

“Does CGPD use ALPR to monitor First Amendment activity? No.”
Chief's agenda document, page 8

The record shows

On January 30, 2026, a deputy chief emailed command staff a list of "notable wins" from the camera system's first ten days of live monitoring. One of them: "Monitoring of a student protest at City Hall."

The same email says the officer watching the cameras can "identify involved parties" and "monitor activity prior to patrol arrival," and that officers used the cameras to spot "suspicious activity, primarily in park areas."

The department's written policy only bans monitoring people "based solely on" politics. Watching a protest for "public safety" slips right through that word. The handout promises more than the policy does.

10 days

of live monitoring before a student protest made the "wins" list

Highlighted January 30, 2026 Casa Grande email excerpt listing monitoring of a student protest and identifying involved parties.
The January 30, 2026 email, page 1, as released by the city. The email says "student protest." We call it peaceful because the email alleges no violence, crime, or safety threat tied to it. Tap to open the page.

See it yourself

The audit log records searches. It does not record an officer watching live video.

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Next

Keep reading

All the evidence →

Searches for people

22

Officers searched the cameras for people by gender and clothing.

Searches for a "male" or "female" in four months. Every search was allowed.

See the searches →

Audit logs

12,406

Two out of three searches have no real case number.

Searches with no real case number. That is 2 out of 3.

See the audit gaps →

Courts

176

"Not yet ruled unconstitutional" is not "constitutional."

Norfolk cameras a judge called too few to track "the whole" of a life. Casa Grande plans about 240 devices for a quarter of Norfolk's population.

Read about the courts →

Bottom line

Watching a protest for 'public safety' slips right through the department's policy.

Ask the council for a written ban on monitoring protests and other First Amendment activity, with an outside audit that covers live viewing, not just searches.

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