DENVER — On Monday, Denver's City Council rejected a contract extension with Flock Group Inc., for more than $600,000 to continue operating the more than 100 automated license plate recognition cameras throughout the city.
All council members at Monday's meeting voted against the contract extension.
The cameras were first installed in May 2024 to help the Denver Police Department fight crime. Currently, there are 111 cameras throughout 70 intersections in Denver.
The discussion during Monday's city council meeting was expected to be contentious.
At-large Councilwoman Sarah Parady told Denver7 she believes the risk of the technology outweighs the benefits.
"This is the first time that we've really had a reason to sort of do our diligence on it," Parady said. "Personally, what I've learned in doing that diligence has really given me pause. This is a form of mass surveillance technology."
Parady worries about who could have access to the data collected by the cameras.
"Mass surveillance is really different than more targeted forms of surveillance, because what we're doing here is we're not, we're not setting up these cameras to only take an image of a plate that we have reason to suspect has been involved in a crime in some way, or is like a plate of a stolen vehicle. That's surveying everybody in Denver, pretty much, if you drive," she said. "It's not only our own police department that can access this database, which keeps these images for a month. It's actually pretty most law enforcement agencies in Colorado."
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Parady told Denver7 she worries about whether, at any point, ICE could get hold of the data, too.
"To our knowledge, there are no ICE officers that have full and direct ability to search the database," she said. "However, there are several FBI agents that have full access to search this database, and right now, the FBI has essentially been instructed at the federal level to support ice, and we've seen them participating in raids."
Denver7 reached out to the Denver Police Department, asking if an agency like ICE could potentially, at some point, have access to data and if DPD shares Flock data with any other agencies. In an email, a spokesperson for the agency said, "ICE does not have direct access to our ALPRs. Generally, we do have a small (3, was 4 previously) number of FBI personnel who are members of the FBI Safe Street Task Force that do have access for investigating violent crimes."
The DPD spokesperson went on to say, "We would not share data with ICE for immigration purposes," adding, "Flock ALPRs have been instrumental in helping solve a number of crimes including but not limited to homicides, shootings, sex crimes, and auto thefts. Nationally, they have helped locate kidnapped children and missing seniors as well."
For those like Grant Hildebrand and Edgar Zuniga, who work at a tattoo shop near an intersection with a license plate recognition camera on Colfax, told Denver7 they don't love the idea of the technology.
"My first thought is, who gets access to this and who actually gets to keep this information?" Zuniga said. "And when people do come asking for this information, is it going to be given to them, regardless of who you are? I mean, I don't like it personally."
Hildebrand said he understands the pros that come along with the technology, but he feels unsure about them.
"Yes, there are some pros to it, you know, fighting criminals, things like that, but at the same time, what is too much oversight when it comes to personal freedoms and everything like that?" he said. "I think, depending on the usage of it, it's fine for the most part. Ultimately, I don't like the idea of just my license plate being read every single time I drive past one."
Holly Beilin, a Flock spokesperson, said the technology holds onto license plate pictures for 30 days, and each jurisdiction decides who they share data with.
"They are taking a photo of every vehicle, and that's for in the event that a crime happens, and that image of the vehicle is needed after the fact, like, for example, in hit and run, it hasn't been reported yet, but you're going to need to have that image when that case lands on a detective's desk," Beilin said. "We have very high accuracy rates, so the error, the error rate is very, very low in terms of license plate actual character accuracy, also of the characteristics of the vehicle, the color, the make, the type of the vehicle."
"Agencies choose who they share data with," she added.
Denver City Council members Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez all requested a "call-out" to ask more questions about the technology. During the "call-out" portion of Monday's council meeting, Parady said the mayor's office requested council members vote 'no' on the contract extension.
Denver7 reached out to the Mayor's office for comment. A spokesperson provided the following statement.
The Mayor’s Office and Department of Safety are asking City Council to vote down contract 25-0413 with Flock Safety today. Denver’s automatic license plate reader system has been a critical component of our strategy to address and drive down auto theft citywide. Just last year, we saw a 40% drop in auto theft, and the ALPR strategy has been a key driver of that success. However, we acknowledge that today’s environment is much different than when the pilot began in early 2024, and there are new community concerns surrounding this technology.
We appreciate the feedback from the many stakeholders, and look forward to continuing conversations with the community to discuss public safety benefits and ensure that we are addressing privacy and security concerns. As we continue these important conversations, we plan to continue our pilot of the Flock software.
As Denver works to leverage responsible technology to improve public safety in our community, we plan to convene a task force to address concerns and ensure we are employing the best strategies to reduce to crime. We look forward to a collaborative process with City Council and other stakeholders across the city.
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