New lawsuit alleges Boulder Police are illegally monitoring people with Flock cameras
The short version: A new Boulder lawsuit claims police used Flock ALPRs to track residents without warrants, testing the limits of 'constitutional' surveillance claims.
Our Take
9NEWS is reporting on a lawsuit out of Boulder that accuses local police of using Flock Safety's license plate readers to monitor people without proper legal process. Flock's go-to defense — that courts have upheld the cameras as constitutional — glosses over the real issue: constitutionality in one narrow ruling doesn't mean unlimited, warrantless tracking of everyone's movements is fine everywhere. Courts have mostly looked at individual camera placements, not the sprawling, networked surveillance dragnet these systems have become.
This case matters because it's not an isolated complaint. Across the country, police departments are quietly expanding ALPR networks with little public debate, then pointing to vague 'transparency' policies when questioned. A lawsuit alleging illegal monitoring in Boulder is a reminder that having a camera's existence disclosed somewhere in a council meeting is not the same as meaningful oversight or consent from the people being tracked every time they drive to work, church, or a protest.
Credit to 9NEWS for pushing this story into the open. If you want to see how dense this surveillance net has gotten in your own area, check our map, and if you'd rather not wait for a lawsuit to force accountability, our take-action page has concrete steps for pushing back locally.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 9NEWS, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.