Our FLOCK Camera Guardrail Bill In Colorado Is Not Moving Forward
The short version: A Colorado lawmaker's bill to limit police access to Flock's historical ALPR database died, showing how hard it is to rein in camera surveillance once it's entrenched.
Our Take
State Rep. Kenny Nguyen laid out the quiet, unglamorous reality of trying to regulate mass surveillance from the inside: SB26-070, which would have banned warrantless government rummaging through historical location data pulled from license plate readers, isn't moving forward. No dramatic floor fight, no viral moment — just a bill that quietly stalls in committee while the cameras keep scanning. Credit to him for being transparent about the loss instead of burying it.
This is the pattern we keep seeing nationwide. Flock and similar vendors sell networks to local police as a narrow tool for finding stolen cars, but the backend quietly becomes a searchable archive of everywhere your plate has been for weeks or months. Once that database exists, multiple agencies tap into it, data gets shared across jurisdictions and even state lines, and legislators who try to put guardrails on it after the fact run into institutional inertia, law enforcement lobbying, and a general public that hasn't clocked what's already been built around them.
Colorado residents don't have to wait on Denver to know what's watching their own neighborhood. Check our camera map to see documented ALPR locations near you, and if you want to push your own city council or state rep the way Rep. Nguyen tried to, our take-action page has the tools to start that fight locally.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Kenny Nguyen for Colorado, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.