{"id":357,"date":"2026-05-28T16:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T16:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=357"},"modified":"2026-05-28T16:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T16:04:12","slug":"2-boulder-residents-sue-over-citys-use-of-flock-cameras-citing-widespread-privacy-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=357","title":{"rendered":"2 Boulder residents sue over city\u2019s use of Flock cameras, citing widespread privacy violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Two Boulder residents are challenging the city\u2019s use of 31 Flock Safety surveillance cameras, saying the technology violates Coloradans\u2019 rights by cataloging their movements without warrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more What\u2019s Happening: Outside Days returns for a third year<\/a><\/p>\n

A lawsuit filed in Boulder District Court on Wednesday night argues the system gives Boulder police broad access to records tracking the movements of people driving and biking through the city \u2014 a level of surveillance the plaintiffs say violates privacy and other protections guaranteed under the Colorado Constitution.<\/p>\n

The complaint, which seeks class-action status, comes amid broader national debates over privacy, data sharing and police surveillance technology. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare Boulder\u2019s Flock cameras unconstitutional and block the city from continuing its surveillance without a warrant.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoulder cannot pretend this is about catching criminals when 99% of the people its cameras surveil every day have nothing to do with any crime,\u201d attorney Andy McNulty said in a written statement. \u201cThis is the kind of dragnet surveillance that turns every neighborhood into a checkpoint and every commute into a serious violation of privacy rights. The Colorado Constitution does not permit it and we intend to put a stop to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit names Police Chief Stephen Redfearn and Dawn VanAckeren, supervisor for Boulder\u2019s records and information services, who denied a request for records filed by one of the plaintiffs, Wiilliam Freeman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the city and police department did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boulder\u2019s Flock data was searchable by thousands of law enforcement agencies for more than three years through Flock\u2019s national network, which allowed agencies across the country to search for a specific license plate within the department\u2019s database, according to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Records obtained by the Boulder Reporting Lab showed on Jan. 1, 2025, alone, Boulder\u2019s system was included in 5,438 database queries. Between June 1, 2024, and May 5, 2025, the national system logged more than 4,000 searches citing \u201cimmigration\u201d as the reason. However, those records identify only the agencies making the searches, not which local camera systems returned results, so it\u2019s unclear whether any immigration-related searches involved data from Boulder\u2019s cameras.<\/p>\n

The Boulder Reporting Lab also found Boulder\u2019s system was included in more than 100 searches conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol before Boulder cut off national sharing in June 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Gross Dam injunction heads back to court after talks stall<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThese cameras give the government unchecked superpowers and that\u2019s not something we should tolerate,\u201d Freeman said in a statement. On his commute to work, Freeman said five separate cameras capture his movements by car and bike, three cameras when he goes to a park and several more while he goes to and from the grocery store.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gwen Steel, the other plaintiff, said cameras are capturing her movements four days a week during her commute to U.S. 36 through Boulder along the Diagonal Highway and Foothills Parkway. Flock cameras also capture her while she travels to attend gatherings at the Islamic Center in Boulder and protests throughout the city.<\/p>\n

When a vehicle passes by a camera, it captures a high-resolution photo, the license plate number and the time, date and GPS coordinates of the vehicle. The lawsuit also claims that the system tracks the faces, characteristics and clothing of those who pass by a camera by bicycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is also asking a judge to order Boulder to release data collected through the cameras. One plaintiff said he has tried to obtain records captured by the automatic license plate reader system involving his own vehicle, but a city records supervisor refused to provide them, which the lawsuit alleges violates the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public has a legitimate and compelling interest in knowing how law enforcement deploys mass surveillance technology against the communities they serve,\u201d the complaint said. \u201cWithout transparency, there is no accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flock operates in at least 75 Colorado communities, according to the lawsuit. Boulder has contracted with Flock since 2022 and pays $82,500 annually for the system, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit comes after a bill aimed at regulating how data collected by automatic license plate readers is used died in the legislature. Law enforcement agencies strongly opposed the measure, arguing it would hinder investigations.<\/p>\n

Read more Where Manny Rutinel and Shannon Bird stand on the issues in Colorado\u2019s 8th Congressional District primary<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lawsuit is asking a judge to block the police\u2019s use of its 31 cameras and require the city to release records of the data collected<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-and-courts"],"yoast_head":"\n2 Boulder residents sue over city\u2019s use of Flock cameras, citing widespread privacy violations - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=357\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 Boulder residents sue over city\u2019s use of Flock cameras, citing widespread privacy violations - 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