Fort Collins police offered their perspective on the city’s fleet of Flock Safety cameras to councilors Tuesday night, saying the department is open to conversations about the technology.
"I think it’s important to note that I’m a big believer in recognizing that any endeavor inside a police department can only move at the speed of trust,” said Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swoboda.
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Controversy has surrounded the camera company in recent months over concerns of immigration enforcement accessing the data the cameras provide. That has led to calls for the city to ditch its contract with the company.
Ahead of the work session on Tuesday, Fort Collins Police Services released a report to answer frequently asked questions aboutt he licenese plate readers.
“I’m positive that the overarching discussion on technology and the police use of technology is going to be a conversation that we have many times in the future,” said Swoboda.
Fort Collins currently has 14 Flock Safety cameras deployed around the city. Most are in busy intersections like N. College Ave and E. Vine Dr., and E. Harmony Rd and S. Ziegler Rd.
During the meeting, police representatives highlighted the success stories of having the cameras. Incidents include helping to track down a missing 13-year-old who was part of an AMBER Alert out of Utah. Other cases include identifying a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run crash at Harmony and I-25, and another incident in which police were able to locate a stolen vehicle.
“Our purpose and mission as a police department is to provide safety to our community. In order to do that, we use a lot of techniques and a lot of technology,” said Deputy Chief of Police Greg Yeager. “We’re always looking for something that’s innovative and new that might increase our efficiency and our advocacy with the community. Whenever we do that, we make sure that we vet that.”
The report aimed to answer frequently asked questions to provide answers to the city council and the community at large.
Law enforcement officials say they own the footage from the cameras and that the video is deleted after 30 days, unless it’s pulled for evidence. In the report, it also states that the cameras do not have facial recognition, and in Fort Collins, they say they are not used for immigration enforcement, nor is the data shared with immigration officials.
Controversies around Flock Safety
Despite these reassurances, Flock Safety has become the target of activists. The license plate readers have sparked concerns about mass surveillance.
These accusations only grew after a viral Super Bowl ad announced Ring was partnering with Flock for a new way to track lost pets. Ring, a home security camera company owned by Amazon, later abandoned the partnership.
On the Flock website, the company states that they do not work directly with ICE or related agencies. However, it says local law enforcement agencies can decide how to use the data and footage the cameras obtain and share it with the federal government.
According to a report, more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the country use the devices.
Fort Collins isn’t alone in the license plate usage in Colorado. The city of Denver announced Tuesday morning that it would be moving its contract to another camera company, called Axon.
A recent report from 9 News says the issue in Denver has been debated since one of their investigations showed the tracking data from Denver was available on a national network for law enforcement that assisted immigration enforcement.
What’s next for Fort Collins and Flock?
Fort Collins City Council says they could be open to similar ideas.
“I have so much trust in the Fort Collins police. I do not have quite as much trust in our federal government at this point in time. Because of the way Flock chose to respond last fall to some of the questions of their security, I have zero trust in them, well, not zero, but very little,” said Mayor Pro Tem Julie Pignataro. “There is no question in my mind that these things have helped you solve crimes and save lives. Both of these things can be true.”
During the conversations, council members also brought up other cities that created more oversight for their license plate cameras that include additional audits on the data.
As a work session, no action was taken on Tuesday, but councilmembers said they hope to continue the conversation to evaluate Fort Collins’ cameras and potentially look at alternative ideas
