DENVER – Data from license plate readers in Denver can't be shared with the federal government, according to a new five-month extension of the city's contract with camera maker Flock Group, Inc. announced Wednesday. It's a move aimed at ending months of controversy about the cameras in the city.
As part of the agreement, access to photo and location data from Denver's Flock cameras was turned off for any outside law enforcement agency, and any sharing of the data with the federal government will come with hefty penalties.
License plate readers have been a hot-button issue in the city for months and the subject of a series of Denver7 reports. Police departments have touted their effectiveness in catching criminals, while others have expressed concerns about over-surveillance and the potential misuse of the data gathered by the cameras – particularly amid a rise in immigration enforcement under the second Trump administration.
Flock cameras were installed in Denver in May of 2024. There are more than 100 of the cameras mounted at 70 intersections across the city. Denver police have credited the cameras for hundreds of arrests and recovered stolen vehicles, and dozens of recovered firearms.
The five-month extension appears to be the compromise city leadership has sought for months since the council unanimously rejected a Flock contract extension over privacy concerns in May. The city's announcement says the extension is coming at no added cost.
The agreement states that data from Flock cameras will be made accessible only to outside law enforcement agencies that sign a memorandum of understanding that the agency won't share data with the feds. An agency that signs the agreement and violates it will be subject to prosecution by the Colorado Attorney General's Office.
Flock doesn’t own the data its cameras collect. Previously, Flock data in Denver could be accessed by the city’s police department as well as more than 80 law enforcement agencies and four FBI agents in Colorado.
Flock will owe a $100,000 fine for any instance in which it shares data with the federal government, according to the city.
If the city is satisfied at the end of the no-cost extension, Mayor Mike Johnston's office said it would present a long-term contract to the city council. In Denver, any contract over $500,000 requires council approval.
“In Denver, we believe you can be a city that is just as tough on fighting crime as it is protecting someone’s civil liberties,” Johnston said in a Wednesday morning statement. “That’s why we’re taking steps not seen anywhere else in the country to ensure this technology is wielded responsibly and that our data stays out of the federal government’s hands. I’ve made clear to Flock’s leadership that I expect total transparency and that anything less will result in an end to our relationship."
In August, Denver assembled a task force to discuss the future of license plate recognition technology in the city. Around the same time, Flock announced it was pausing operations with federal agencies amid concerns about the use of the data. It had been participating in pilot programs with the Department of Homeland Security, according to the Associated Press.
Denver city councilwoman Sarah Parady, an outspoken critic of the Flock program, sent us a statement in the moments after this story published saying she is still not satisfied with the new steps being taken – even going as far as saying the use of Flock cameras "remains incredibly dangerous for Denver."
"I was stunned to learn late yesterday that after convening a task force of local and national experts, Mayor Johnston has been negotiating secretly with the discredited CEO of Flock safety and signing another unilateral extension of this mass surveillance contract with no public process and no vote from city council or input from his own task force," her statement to Denver7 Investigates read in part.
Parady said the new data constraints – "a version [of Flock] where we do not participate in massive data networks with other jurisdictions" – was always available and that Wednesday's announcement is a "belated step" by the mayor's office.
Parady had previously scheduled a community meeting regarding Flock for Wednesday evening, with a stated goal to tell the mayor to "turn the cameras off."
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