Who’s Watching the Watchers in Prescott Valley?

Prescott Valley runs 29 Flock license plate cameras that log more than 300,000 vehicles a month. Most residents never voted on them, and a citizen-commissioned poll suggests most don’t want them. So who is actually in charge of this system, and who is holding it accountable? Here’s a look at the people running it.

The poll

A NextGen Polling survey of 808 Prescott Valley voters, taken Sept. 17–20, found 59.5% oppose police use of the cameras and 36.1% support it. Eighty percent want independent audits with public reporting, and 76.6% want council approval before any license plate reader program is started or expanded.

NextGen is a Republican-focused consulting firm, and the poll was paid for by a Flock critic. At the council’s Oct. 1 study session, nobody identified a flaw in it.

The mayor: Kell Palguta

Mayor Kell Palguta spent more than a decade with the Prescott Valley Police Department, where he was once a decorated officer. Former mayoral candidate Bill Williams, citing department records, reports that Palguta was demoted from sergeant to corporal.

His 2026 re-election was endorsed by the Prescott Valley Police Officers Association, Yavapai County Sheriff Dave Rhodes and other law enforcement figures. At the Oct. 1 session, he left no doubt where he stands: Flock cameras, he said, clearly make Prescott Valley safer, and audits are enough to guard against overreach. “I think we can have both,” he said.

The chief: Bob Ticer

Police Chief Bob Ticer came to Prescott Valley in 2022 after stints with the Prescott Police Department, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and as chief in Avon and Loveland, Colorado.

His Loveland tenure was defined by the 2020 arrest of Karen Garner, a 73-year-old woman with dementia who was left with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder. The city paid her $3 million. Ticer refused calls to resign; within a year, he was gone, hired as Prescott Valley’s chief. That looks less like standing firm and more like waiting for an exit.

Today he is the public face of the town’s Flock program. He calls PV’s policy a “model” and says he’s helping write model legislation for the state. But his department’s own technology page doesn’t hold up to a close look:

It lists LPR #13 at Lakeshore and Badger as “active / installed.” The camera is gone.
Two camera IDs, F#002 and F#003, are each listed at two different locations.
It admits the department has no figure for how many hotlist hits led to arrests or recoveries.
Policy requires a list of every agency PV shares plate data with. That list isn’t published.
Policy requires annual audits. No audit results are published.

When the poll came out against the cameras, Ticer didn’t point to a flaw in it. He told the council surveys should be run by academics, and that police should be consulted on the questions.

The manager: Gilbert Davidson

The person with the most day-to-day control over the cameras isn’t elected at all. Under Prescott Valley’s council-manager system, Town Manager Gilbert Davidson supervises the police chief, manages contracts and carries out the budget. He has held the job since 2021, after serving as town manager in Marana and Willcox and as Gov. Doug Ducey’s chief operating officer.

The cameras came on his watch. In January 2024, Ticer announced PVPD would begin installing license plate readers, funded with grants through the Rocky Mountain Information Network and two state agencies. Resident Laura Covell, who has pressed the issue before the council five times, says the program grew without a clear, standalone council vote.

At the Oct. 1 session, Davidson said the town is seeking qualified third parties to review the system. Ticer said he and Davidson would digest the conversation and decide from there. So the manager will choose who audits the system his chief runs, and the two of them will decide what follows.

The council

On Oct. 1, the council finally held a study session on Flock, with no vote. Here’s where each member landed:

Member	Stance	On the record
Mayor Kell Palguta	Pro-Flock	Says the cameras clearly make the town safer and audits are enough.
Vice Mayor Matt Zurcher	Leans pro-Flock	Cited State Sen. Mark Finchem praising PV as a model for ALPR use.
Kenneth Freund	Most skeptical	Asked whether an independent audit would cover the entire system before any expansion or renewal.
Janell Kiehl	Responsive	Acknowledged heavy public pushback and called for another survey to listen to citizens.
Kendall Schumacher	Unknown	Nothing on the record.
Michael Greer	Unknown	Nothing on the record.
Jason Thornton	Unknown	Nothing on the record.

The bottom line

A former cop as mayor, backed by the police union. A chief who asks residents to trust a camera list that’s wrong. A manager residents never elected choosing who audits the system. And three council members who haven’t said a word.

What most residents say they want is simple: a public vote on whether the cameras stay. So far, nobody in charge has offered one. If Loveland is any guide, Ticer will stand behind Flock right up until he doesn’t.