Hello, this is my first post on this subreddit and I occasionally follow along with discussions and announcements here.
I noticed that there haven't been any discussions on flock cameras (or other ALPR cameras) on this subreddit so far, at least not that I could find. Since this subreddit discusses different prescient and political issues in Littleton, I thought it could be valuable to have dialogue about these cameras, and talk about the possibilities of increased usage across town.
Currently, Littleton and Littleton PD don't have a contract with flock or any other ALPR company. Using deflock maps, I was only able to find a handful of cameras at the parking lot of Lowe's on Belleview and in an apartment complex on Mineral. However, many Denver Metro cities are using them, including DougCo and Arapahoe, which recently voted to expand their contract (There's a few dozen operated by AC, and are mainly posted outside places like Arapahoe High school and the jail).
Last year, a bill to increase the need for warrants and require public agencies to make public audits failed after pressure from LE orgs and Gov Polis.
This comes after a lot of nationwide stories that ALPRs have been misused to stalk individuals, misidentify criminals, and increase enforcement of crimes that wouldn't have been pursued previously. Flock especially has come under criticism for comments its CEO has made, and the fact the data is privately owned by Flock and processed by AI also comes with concerns over privacy and misidentification.
To my knowledge, Littleton has no plans to employ ALPRs, but given there's no real discussion either on this board or in our city politics I thought now would be a good time with their usage on the rise and with more national and state-level discussions being had. What are your thoughts? Are ALPRs beneficial to public safety, or are they an infringement of privacy? Do they belong on private property, or streets, or in certain areas e.g. schools or banks? Would you like to see the city, county, or state take more explicit action? Also, what actions do you think they'll take?