Durango City Council appears ready to explore regulation of automatic license plate readers in addition to other forms of mass surveillance.
On Tuesday, Mayor Dave Woodruff and Councilor Shirley Gonzales introduced a resolution and an ordinance, respectively, calling for regular public updates about Durango Police Department’s Flock Safety system and an ordinance to regulate ALPRs and other forms of mass surveillance.
City Attorney Mark Morgan requested Gonzales accept an amendment to her proposed ordinance to expand its scope to include all forms of mass surveillance, which she accepted and the council approved unanimously.
“Facial recognition is everywhere. It’s in the airports. I think we can do a little better service to you guys and the community if we try to develop something that’s more ‘mass surveillance’ oriented as opposed to specific to one system, license plate readers,” he said.
Gonzales has supported DeFlock Durango in its efforts to create an ordinance residents, DPD and City Council would be amenable to. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado helped DeFlock Durango draft an ordinance, although that version is intended to be a baseline for states to work from.
Gonzales said the ordinance she proposed would zero in on particulars that make the regulation the right fit for Durango specifically.
Morgan said he met with DeFlock Durango and told them he is happy to work with them, DPD and City Council, and each party shares common ground.
He said he might propose some regulations to be presented as policy as opposed to an ordinance – a general ordinance regulating mass surveillance would allow the city to create specific policies.
City Council will consider the ordinance further at future meetings.
Councilor Jessika Loyer said she is glad multiple groups are working together to write a Durango-specific ordinance City Council can get behind.
“I don’t want unintended consequences to come out of something that’s going to prevent us from keeping our community safe,” she said.
The council also approved Woodruff’s resolution for regular public updates on “publicly releasable information and utilizing the Flock camera system” to include the use and access of the system by officers and other jurisdictions.
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