Denver considers kicking out Flock — but keeping license plate cameras

Denver is considering ending its relationship with Flock, a controversial company that maintains a network of license-plate reading cameras in the city, but Mayor Mike Johnston’s office plans to continue using that technology.

“We are currently fielding bids for license plate reader services,” Jon Ewing, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said Monday. “The chosen provider will be weighed on several factors and will be required to comply with an exhaustive list of expectations regarding data retention, information sharing, and access limitations.”

The city’s current contract with Flock ends on March 31. The mayor’s office plans to submit a new contract to the City Council “in the coming weeks,” he said.

Atlanta-based Flock has faced national scrutiny for its artificial intelligence-powered system, with many critics arguing that the company has built a nationwide mass-surveillance network ripe for abuse. In Colorado, where Johnston and police chiefs have cited the cameras’ assistance in nabbing criminals, the technology has also led to wrongful accusations of crimes.

Some are also concerned the cameras may be aiding in President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign. Data collected in Denver by Flock was used in immigration-related national searches more than 1,400 times between June 2024 and April 2025, according to Colorado Newsline. Trump returned to office in January 2025.

Hundreds of people have complained to the city about its relationship with the company. Community feedback is one of the reasons the city is now considering a new provider for the technology, Ewing said.

The council unanimously rejected a two-year contract with Flock last May, partly because the mayor’s office requested they do so after hearing backlash from council members and the public. Johnston’s administration then twice extended the contract without council approval, most recently in October.

Under that extension, Johnston’s administration added new requirements to Flock’s contract that were intended to protect sensitive data.

Johnston has said the technology has been a “game changer” for combating crime, leading to hundreds of arrests and recovered stolen vehicles.

The 111 Flock cameras operating in Denver were installed at 70 intersections in 2024 as part of an eight-month pilot program.

The continuing extensions have caused considerable tension between the mayor’s office and the council. Several members have lambasted Johnston’s office over the cameras.

“Flock Safety’s cavalier treatment of our data should have disqualified them from continuing to operate on our streets long ago,” Councilwoman Sarah Parady, one of the most vocal critics of Flock, said Monday. “Moving forward, this experience should be a wake-up call for all of us in city leadership to be far more rigorous about when we collect data in the first place and how we protect it.”

She said she was working with council colleagues and the mayor’s task force on “legislative guardrails,” adding: “I hope the mayor will approach other surveillance companies with far less credulity than has been the case so far.”

The cameras operate by snapping photos of every car that passes through the intersections where they are based. The system then cross-references the license plates with national and local law enforcement databases.

If a plate matches one listed in the system as associated with a car that’s been reported stolen or involved with a crime, the Denver Police Department is notified — with a pinpoint of where the photo was taken — within about 15 seconds.

The photos are stored for 30 days unless they are flagged as part of an investigation.

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