After months of deliberation over the city's license plate camera system, Fort Collins City Council voted 6-1 this month to cancel its contract with Flock Safety. Residents have been calling for an end to Flock and data collection over concerns about privacy and the company's track record.
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"I won't labor on only to be another voice in there saying ... we don't want the Flock cameras," said resident Augustine Wright, who pointed out there seemed to be a clear consensus on the matter.
Wright was one of many locals who used their share of public comment to blast Flock and ask city leaders for a reprieve. Some evoked fascist rule, mass surveillance, and eroding public trust.
"I believe fear is part of what keeps the Flock cameras in place, and the public is left to live with the consequences," said resident Roxane Ardham.
With the vote, council ordered Flock data collection to immediately stop, and the 15 city-owned cameras will be removed. City council had been considering a split from Flock and was looking at several options to address residents' concerns. Ultimately, they favored starting from scratch on a new surveillance policy.
Fort Collins police spent a portion of the meeting explaining how they use Flock data and why losing it could potentially delay crime response times and impact investigations.
"You know, people come out of work, and they find out eight hours later that their car, something happened to it. People come home from vacation, they find out that their home was burglarized. There's a lot of reasons that people might not report crime," said Police Chief Jeff Swoboda, noting how Flock can help police look back in time for leads.
Several councilmembers acknowledged how losing Flock as a police resource was not ideal. Councilmember Melanie Potyondy said that made this a tough vote.
"Even though it is going to be a big tradeoff for Fort Collins Police Services, I think it's incumbent on us to at least take this pause to make sure that if we do decide to move forward and retain this kind of technology, that we do it right with the correct level of guardrails," Potyondy said.
Other Front Range communities are grappling with license plate surveillance technology. Denver opted not to renew its contract with Flock earlier this year and picked a new vendor to operate a camera system. Boulder is in the process of deciding which direction it wants to go with Flock.
At the state level, lawmakers failed this session to move a measure that would tighten privacy protections around license plate cameras. Colorado’s District Attorney said it was too restrictive and would hamper criminal investigations.
