{"id":22801,"date":"2025-04-07T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/whos-watching-in-durango-its-a-flock-of-license-plate-readers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:17:42","slug":"whos-watching-in-durango-its-a-flock-of-license-plate-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/whos-watching-in-durango-its-a-flock-of-license-plate-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s watching? In Durango, it\u2019s a flock of license plate readers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A Flock automated license plate reader in Durango snaps a photo of all vehicles that pass it in both directions. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A group of starlings is a murmuration. A gathering of crows is a murder. And a horde of ravens is a conspiracy.<\/p>\n

The owl-like license plate readers installed across the city of Durango: Those are Flock cameras.<\/p>\n

Collective nouns for birds were often derived from quaint observations<\/a> of the species\u2019 behavior. So, if Durango Police Department\u2019s Flock cameras had a collective noun of their own, the group might be called an observation.<\/p>\n

Positioned discretely, mounted permanently on existing traffic control apparatus or a 12-foot pole of their own, Durango\u2019s Flock cameras go mostly unobserved as they catalog every passing car.<\/p>\n

Durango police now have a baker\u2019s dozen of these lenticular sentries posted throughout the city, mostly on the thoroughfares that take drivers in and out of city limits.<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango Police Department Cmdr. Nick Stasi examines an image captured by one of the department\u2019s Flock cameras in the last 30 days. He searched the vehicle make, a partial license plate and the term \u201croof rack\u201d to find the vehicle in question. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The cameras are a powerful crime-fighting tool, Durango police officers say, that allow them to quickly locate stolen vehicles, act on arrest warrants and identify suspects. Civil rights groups, including the Colorado chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, have raised privacy concerns over the technology and the expansive and loosely regulated data sharing between agencies that occurs.<\/p>\n

How these eagle-eyed cameras work<\/div>\n

Flock cameras take a static photograph of every passing car.<\/p>\n

They catalog its license plate and create a \u201cvehicle fingerprint\u201d based off the vehicle type, make, color and other unique features, such as stickers or roof racks. That data is saved for 30 days on the cloud and then deleted.<\/p>\n

Durango paid one-time fees totaling $59,400 and an annual fee of $47,000 for the technology. The first camera went up about a year ago and the last of DPD\u2019s initial order of 13 cameras was installed in February.<\/p>\n

Part of the allure for local law enforcement is Flock\u2019s expansive network.<\/p>\n

Since 2017, Flock camera\u2019s have proliferated around the country, including neighboring communities such as Farmington, in Montezuma County, Grand Junction and Telluride. The venture-capital backed company now says its worth $7.5 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Durango Police have access to images from 25,600 Flock cameras nationwide (a number that grows weekly), and the department shares images from its cameras with 271 other law enforcement agencies that have requested access and been approved on an individual basis. Law enforcement may also access images from privately owned Flock cameras, such as those installed by homeowners associations or businesses (Home Depot will soon have Flock cameras at every store to fight organized crime).<\/p>\n

The system, which every officer can access remotely, has two primary functions.<\/p>\n

\"Each
Each plate captured on a Flock camera gets crossed-checked with Colorado Crime Information Center, a database managed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the National Crime Information Center, a database managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Officers can also manually add alerts for specific vehicles. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Each plate gets crossed-checked with Colorado Crime Information Center, a database managed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the National Crime Information Center, a database managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Officers can also manually add alerts for specific vehicles.<\/p>\n

Durango police get a notification anytime a vehicle that\u2019s been stolen or is registered to someone with an active warrant passes by one of their 13 cameras.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the most common way officers use Flock, said Durango Police Cmdr. Nick Stasi.<\/p>\n

Over the course of an hourlong tour of the system, alerts buzzed on Stasi\u2019s computer a handful of times to inform him that someone with an active warrant \u2013 or at least a car registered to someone with a warrant \u2013 had passed one of the department\u2019s cameras.<\/p>\n

The second function is the search.<\/p>\n

Officers can query an array of cameras \u2013 as few as one, or as many as 25,600 \u2013 with complete or partial license plates. They can also search for distinguishing features identified in the vehicle fingerprint.<\/p>\n

Searches can only be performed by an officer using a unique login \u201cfor legitimate law enforcement purposes only,\u201d according to DPD\u2019s internal policy governing use of the technology. The policy also outlines that the system shall be audited quarterly \u2013 an update in the last two months from language mandating \u201cregular\u201d audits.<\/p>\n

The Durango Herald <\/em>filed a records request for the previous three audits conducted. The only responsive record was a single audit Stasi produced during an interview at the Herald\u2019s<\/em> request.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first quarter that we would have had with all of the cameras up,\u201d Stasi said, noting that the past policy was too vague.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe
\u201cWe use it a lot for stolen cars,\u201d DPD Officer Richard Clamp said. \u201cOnce you report it stolen, then (the car will) start pinging on Flock. My last one, we saw that it was all over East 32nd and we last saw it was southbound, which means, OK, it\u2019s in New Mexico. And then it was found in New Mexico.\u201d (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

According to the results of that audit, police officers searched the database 527 times (not including demonstrations) over a 30-day period looking for 89 unique license plates; 114 of those searches did not include a partial or complete plate, but used other limiting factors such as a description of the vehicle. In some cases, officers reviewed images from a single camera without refining the search by vehicle.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Flock initially expressed interest in an interview but did not respond to further repeated requests.<\/p>\n

How officers use Flock<\/div>\n

Police officers do not need a warrant to search the Flock database. However, they must enter a valid reason for their query according to both Flock and departmental policy. That\u2019s as simple as typing a case number, \u201cmissing person\u201d or any other police-work related term into the search field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use it a lot for stolen cars,\u201d said DPD Officer Richard Clamp. \u201cOnce you report it stolen, then (the car will) start pinging on Flock. My last one, we saw that it was all over East 32nd and we last saw it was southbound, which means, OK, it\u2019s in New Mexico. And then it was found in New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last 30 days, officers searching the database listed stolen vehicle as the reason at least 95 times. Hit and runs, shoplifting and active warrants were all common reasons listed as well.<\/p>\n

Stasi said the cameras are a force multiplier for the department.<\/p>\n

He cited a recent example of a pickup truck that had been stolen in Grand Junction. An alert was sent to officers when the truck passed a Flock camera heading into Durango, and the driver was arrested when he returned to the vehicle in the Albertsons parking lot.<\/p>\n

Without Flock cameras, that driver \u201cwould have left town, and we would have never known he came or left,\u201d Stasi said.<\/p>\n

The police department\u2019s social media occasionally uses the playful hashtag \u201c#YasFlock\u201d to feature success stories of suspects apprehended using the technology. Stasi said Flock cameras have led to the recovery of several other stolen vehicles.<\/p>\n

The 13 cameras are positioned mainly along the highways near city limits, as well as on East 32nd Street and Florida Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal from the beginning was to be able to identify all the cars coming and going from city limits,\u201d he said. \u201cOur intent to is to help identify suspects and solve crimes. We are not using it monitor people\u2019s daily activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango police have access to images from 25,600 Flock cameras nationwide (a number that grows weekly), and the department shares images from its cameras with 271 other law enforcement agencies that have requested access. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Data from the cameras is encrypted for its entire lifetime, generally 30 days.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement may save the data beyond 30 days if it will be needed in a legal case. Flock, in its own terms and conditions,<\/a> carves out a loophole in which it may preserve and release data to law enforcement or other third parties if legally required to do so or if the company \u201chas a good faith belief\u201d that doing so is necessary \u201cto comply with a legal process, enforce this Agreement, or detect, prevent or otherwise address security, privacy, fraud or technical issues, or emergency situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A mass surveillance system of Orwellian scope\u2019<\/div>\n

The proliferation of automated license plate readers nationwide has prompted civil liberties advocates to raise numerous concerns about mass surveillance, mistakes and the possible infringement on Americans\u2019 protection from unreasonable searches and seizures enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more contracts, the more cameras, the greater usage \u2013 I think there is a reality in the future where Fourth Amendment violations, because of the use of Flock, could be very real,\u201d said Anaya Robinson, senior policy strategist at the ACLU of Colorado.<\/p>\n

The national ACLU objects to Flock\u2019s pooling of license plate data, calling it a<\/a> \u201ccentralized mass surveillance system of Orwellian scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flock cameras are all placed on public roads in locations where there is no legally recognized expectation of privacy.<\/p>\n

A transparency page posted on the city\u2019s website<\/a> details the camera\u2019s uses. It says use of the data for \u201cImmigration enforcement, traffic enforcement, harassment or intimidation, usage based solely on a protected class\u201d are all prohibited.<\/p>\n

Flock does not use facial recognition, and all of Durango\u2019s cameras are set up to capture images of a vehicle\u2019s rear plate. In none of the images reviewed by the Herald <\/em>was a driver\u2019s face visible.<\/p>\n

Courts have been clear that use of an ALPR to capture and search for a single vehicle does not constitute a warrantless search barred by the constitution. However, courts have also indicated that use<\/a> of ALPRs to track an individual\u2019s habitual transit could run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, although such a case has yet to turn up.<\/p>\n

\"Flock
Flock does not use facial recognition, and all of Durango\u2019s cameras are set up to capture images of a vehicle\u2019s rear license plate. In none of the images reviewed by the Herald was a driver\u2019s face visible. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Stasi said he\u2019s aware of the privacy concerns and said there was a discussion about them before the installation began. When asked about those discussions, he pivoted back to the utility of the cameras.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re using it to solve crime and help our community by keeping criminals out of town,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although there are cases in which ALPRs have misread plates prompting officers to mistakenly detain drivers (DPD\u2019s policy directs officers to check information before acting to avoid this), that\u2019s not what seems to be behind Robinson\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

The accumulation of data is itself a threat, not because of how individual agencies like DPD use it \u2013 but because of how it could be used or misused.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have real concerns (around use by) Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the current political landscape right now,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cAnd while I don\u2019t believe that that is necessarily Flock\u2019s intention, and they are fairly clear about that, I don\u2019t know that they have a ton of control around the intention of the entities that are contracting with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal law enforcement doesn\u2019t appear to have access to Durango\u2019s Flock cameras, and DPD generally may not carry out immigration enforcement on behalf of federal authorities. However, National Public Radio has reported<\/a> that ICE has added hundreds of thousands of administrative deportation warrants to the NCIC database<\/a>, against which license plates captured by Flock cameras are checked.<\/p>\n

Outside watchdogs <\/a>have raised concerns that cities using ALRPs, like Durango, could become unwittingly complicit in federal immigration enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n

Robinson doesn\u2019t discount the utility of Flock cameras.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that there are some positives that come from the use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, he added, \u201cfrom our perspective, the harm can very reasonably outweigh the good.\u201d<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cameras allow police officers to access thousands of images from nationwide network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,1065,28,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-durango-police-department","tag-headlines","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77859,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801\/revisions\/77859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22801"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}