Law enforcement agencies from across the nation were able to access information from Denver’s license plate surveillance cameras, including for immigration enforcement purposes.
Denver is one of hundreds of cities to use Flock Safety cameras to photograph millions of license plates and track the locations of automobiles. Most often, that information is used to track stolen vehicles and missing persons.
But in hundreds of instances, law enforcement agencies around the country have searched the national Flock network for information that appeared related to immigration cases — and until early April, those searches could have picked up license plates photographed in Denver.
Denverite found no evidence in national records that DPD’s vehicle-tracking data was used in any immigration cases. The department has not released its internal audit documenting its own searches.
But, facing pressure from elected officials, the Denver Police Department deactivated the “national search” function of its Flock technology in April.
