Steamboat Springs Police Chief Mark Beckett updated City Council this week on the process of removing Flock cameras and automated license plate readers from the city. As of Thursday, Sept. 3, the cameras have officially been decommissioned and are not collecting data.
The Tuesday update came two weeks after a packed, often tense public forum where Beckett defended automated license plate reader technology as community members questioned privacy risks, data-sharing issues and potential misuse.
The following day, Beckett ordered all six SSPD-contracted Flock cameras within city limits to be deactivated immediately. On Wednesday, Sept. 2, the Routt County Sheriff’s Office released a similar announcement, noting it would end its contract with Flock and was in the process of deactivating RCSO-contracted Flock cameras in the county.
The town of Hayden followed suit after the Town Council’s regular meeting on Thursday, Sept. 3, where councilors directed Police Chief Scott Scurlock to not only deactivate the cameras, but cover them with plastic bags to ensure data collection cannot occur.
At the Steamboat Springs City Council’s Tuesday work session, Beckett said that while his department has received positive feedback on the use of Flock cameras — mostly through letters — the “overwhelming consensus” from community members “was opposition.”
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