The City of Fort Collins has officially ended its contract with Flock Safety.

City staff confirmed in July that all 15 of the city’s automated license plate reader cameras have been removed. This closed out a monthslong debate that began with a single work session in February and grew into a closely watched issue around the state. 

District 5 Councilmember Amy Hoeven said the response from residents since the cameras were taken down has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We received a ton of positive feedback from the community,” Hoeven said. “It was a really good demonstration of the city and the residents within it working really well together to achieve that strong sense of safety in our neighborhood.”

The cancellation ends months of public pressure that City Council first actively addressed at a Feb. 24 work session. Council members at the time raised concerns about Flock’s security record and the possibility that federal immigration authorities could access the data.

Hoeven said the decision ultimately came down to trust in the company itself, not in local police. 

“The residents had spoken out so vehemently, and they brought so much factual information along with better understanding (of) exactly the type of company that had not acted in a trusting manner,” Hoeven said. “It really came down to trust with the company, and I was questioning that trust. … If people don’t trust it, if I don’t trust it, then it’s not worth it.”

She added that concerns about the cameras being used against vulnerable residents, including in connection with federal immigration enforcement, weighed heavily on her, even though Fort Collins police are barred by state law and department policy from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

“I want to protect our residents to the fullest of my ability,” Hoeven said. “We don’t want this affecting any vulnerable community members maliciously, and if there’s a hole there, then we need to get rid of it.”

Council reviewed legal guidance on early termination penalties before moving forward, and Hoeven said the cost was still worth it.

In a statement, J Gilmore, Fort Collins Police Services director of communications, said the cameras had been a valuable investigative tool, helping officers quickly locate missing people and stolen vehicles, as well as flag vehicles tied to active investigations. The director also added that the decision to cancel the contract reflects the department’s commitment to balancing those benefits against accountability and community trust. 

“The decision to cancel the City’s contract with Flock Safety and remove the 14 associated license plate recognition cameras was reached after several months of program evaluation and feedback from the Fort Collins community,” Gilmore said. “We remain committed to finding effective, community-centered approaches that strengthen public safety while preserving the trust that is essential to our mission.”

Some council members, including District 1’s Chris Conway, had raised concerns this year that dropping the cameras could create a gap in safety measures. Hoeven said she shares that concern but trusts police leadership’s assessment that investigations can continue without the technology.

“I also believe what Chief (Jeff) Swoboda and his team have said: They solved crimes really well before, and they’ll continue to do it after,” Hoeven said.

Fort Collins is not alone. The Salida Police Department announced recently that it was ending its own Flock contract following community concerns, with Chief Russ Johnson saying in a statement that, “The use of technology in public safety must be balanced with the privacy, civil liberties and concerns of the people we serve.” According to a tracker maintained by the advocacy group DeFlock, approximately 100 municipalities nationwide have canceled, suspended or rejected Flock contracts since the start of the year, including Fort Collins, Denver, Los Angeles and Syracuse, New York.

The backlash has also turned physical. In El Paso County, Colorado, three Flock cameras were cut down along Bradley Drive, and the Fountain Police Department confirmed damage to four more, resulting in the arrest of three juveniles. The incidents come ahead of a national “Week of Action Against ALPRs,” which was organized by DeFlock and set for Aug. 16-22.

Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley announced sweeping changes to the company’s platform Aug. 13, including cutting default data retention recommendations from 30 days to seven, requiring all law enforcement customers to adopt misuse-detection auditing, mandating case codes for searches and letting agencies restrict which offenses outside departments can search their cameras for. Civil liberty advocacy groups gave the changes a mixed reception: the American Civil Liberties Union called the shorter retention window “a step in the right direction” but described other measures as “following Flock’s playbook of treating legitimate privacy concerns as mere public relations problems.” Robert Frommer, a senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, called the update “yet more window dressing.”

Locally, Fort Collins isn’t done addressing surveillance. Hoeven said the city is drafting a new surveillance policy, with input from its Citizen Review Board and a series of community conversations facilitated by Colorado Humanities, which are expected to begin in September. Hoeven also said the city is considering adding a technology specialist to help evaluate any future public safety tools for vulnerabilities before they’re adopted.

“That’s what was so vital in the Flock conversation is people who were able to poke holes in the technology (were) super helpful,” Hoeven said. “We want to make sure that people who do know that ever-changing, rapidly changing technology can really point out any vulnerabilities.”

Hoeven said the city council received a letter of thanks from the League of Women Voters for how the city handled the process, calling it a reminder of democracy functioning as intended.

“It’s a real collaborative process, and it’s just going to be a really important process to go through,” Hoeven said. “This maintains that sense of democracy, and it is a democratic process that we’re going to continue to follow as we work through our new policies.”

Reach Maci Lesh at news@collegian.com or on social media @macileshmedia.