Data collected by Flock Safety license plate readers across Denver was accessed in immigration-related national searches more than 1,400 times between June 2024 and April 2025, according to audit logs that Newsline obtained from the Denver Police Department.
Flock users like Denver police can let local law enforcement agencies around the country search their Flock data, and Denver previously allowed national searches on its 111 cameras. When searchers, which are primarily out-of-state police departments, access the data, they are asked to enter a reason for the search. The Denver audit logs show that in many instances, those reasons were "ICE" or "immigration." About 690 of the immigration-related searches happened after President Donald Trump's inauguration in January.
Denver turned off the national search feature in April due to concerns related to immigration enforcement.
"The logs confirm our worst fears," said Katie Leonard, an organizer with the Denver Party for Socialism and Liberation. The group calls for Denver to end its contract with Flock.
Before Denver police disabled the national search feature, immigration-related searches of Denver cameras were conducted by police departments in cities like Dallas and Jacksonville, Florida.
A police spokesperson said in a statement that "just because a user decided to enter "ICE" as the reason, the purpose isn't necessarily for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement," adding that the search could be for criminal investigations. It is not known if any of the 1,400 immigration-related searches can be tied to any specific immigration enforcement actions.
Immigration crackdown
The cameras were first installed in Denver in May 2024, with Denver police calling them instrumental for reducing auto theft and other crimes. The cameras have led to 289 arrests by the department, the statement said.
But for advocates and organizations focused on civil liberties, including the ACLU Colorado, Denver's use of the cameras to solve auto thefts does not outweigh privacy and immigrant rights concerns.
Advocates' fears are heightened due to the tactics used by the Trump administration as it ramps up its immigration crackdown. The administration's mass deportation efforts include arresting people without permanent legal status outside of immigration courts, and arresting many people with no criminal records. Fewer than half of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrestees under Trump have criminal records.
The administration got a funding boost from the federal Republican tax break and spending cut law, signed by Trump on July 4, which contained $170 billion for immigration enforcement-related resources like bolstering border security and hiring thousands more ICE officers.
"While a lot of this conversation is about immigrant data, and the situation is extremely concerning, it doesn't stop there," said Anaya Robinson, the public policy director of ACLU Colorado. "The root of the concern really is that Flock, because of the way that they allow sharing data, are building out this nationwide network of surveillance, and we have a lot of concerns when it comes to people's right to privacy and not having all of our movements to and from our homes being tracked by law enforcement."
Flock contract extension
In May, the Denver City Council unanimously rejected a $666,000 contract extension with Flock. But the cameras are still running in Denver, after Mayor Mike Johnston extended the contract through October, independent of the council.
Johnston was not required to run this decision by the council, because the contract extension, set at about $499,000, falls below the $500,000 threshold that would have required council review. He signed the contract extension, which Newsline has reviewed, in July.
"It's an important tool for fighting crime," said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the mayor's office. "It's an important tool for law enforcement. It's also very important that we are transparent with the public, that we are transparent with the community and we're transparent with the City Council. So this is a process that we're all working through together."
However, Denver City Council member Sarah Parady said the contract renewal process has been "incredibly alarming," adding that "the amount of the contract tells me that it was essentially designed to evade council review."
Parady also pointed to how, in the months between the City Council rejection of the contract extension and Johnston's extension of the contract, the cameras remained operational in Denver.
"I am just flabbergasted that we allowed these cameras to keep running in the city with not even a contract in place," Parady said.
Denver Flock cameras capture about 2 million license plate images per month, and Colorado law enforcement agencies continue to have the ability to search Denver Flock camera data.
"Everyone is very rightfully focused on deportations, because we are seeing a crackdown, the likes which we've never seen," Parady said. "But there are all kinds of ways that you can abuse surveillance data, and even blocking the ability to search for, say, immigration, just doesn't put my mind at ease in any way."
In June, 9News reported that the Loveland Police Department allowed an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to use its Flock data to conduct six searches on behalf of ICE.
Colorado law restricts local law enforcement and state agencies from collaborating with ICE or sharing personal identifying information with federal immigration authorities. Ewing said the Denver audit logs do not indicate that there has been any violation of state law by Colorado police departments using DPD data, but if that ever were to happen, "we would absolutely shut them out."
Holly Beilin, a spokesperson for Flock Safety, said "it's possible to balance public safety with protecting privacy and ensuring that the values of Denver are protected," adding that the audit logs allow for transparency.
"The accountability mechanisms within the Flock system, the audit log, worked as intended," Beilin said. "The community was able to, and Denver PD was able to, determine that national lookup did not align with the values of their community, and they turned it off."
Advocates in Denver said that, although the national search tool is now disabled, their privacy and civil liberty concerns remain. The cameras retain license plate images for 30 days, and Leonard said that kind of data storing is a dangerous infringement of Coloradans' rights.
"We've been sounding the alarm about how serious the threats are that Flock poses to the safety and constitutional rights of all types of working class people, especially under the Trump administration," Leonard said. "These cameras need to be turned off."
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