By: Minka Koskinen

On May 5, 2025, the city council for Denver, Colorado, voted on a proposal on whether or not to introduce Flock AI surveillance cameras into their city. Their vote made their position very clear: 12-0 against having these cameras in their city. Citizens of Denver came out to speak against these cameras, voicing their concerns over safety and privacy.

The budget proposed by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who was originally looking for approval for the contract with Flock (the AI surveillance camera company), was for $1 million. The city council voted against the contract, and that should have been the end of the issue. However, Mayor Johnston didn’t take no for an answer and instead used a loophole that anything under $500,000 does not need city council approval. The mayor then revised the original contract to $498,000, effectively circumventing the city council and going against citizens’ wishes.

There have been many issues with these Flock cameras, which grab information on vehicles, license plates, and other data to monitor routines and identifying information to identify citizens for supposed law enforcement investigations.

One of the many issues, however, is that there have been issues of stalkers using this information to stalk and track people. There have been numerous reports of police personnel stalking and tracking exes and spouses. In Sedgwick, Kansas, a police chief tracked his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend over 200 times.

This isn’t just an issue for Colorado, as Hennepin County, St. Louis County, Corcoran, Faribault, and Wayzata have already installed and use these cameras. Prior Lake is in the process of installing these cameras, while Coon Rapids and Vadnais Heights have approved the purchase of these Flock cameras.

With the massive oversight with these cameras, as Flock relies on their customers to self-monitor, extensive data collection, and warrantless access, citizens must ask themselves if this is technology they want in their cities.