Keep Glenwood Glenwood
Keep Glenwood Glenwood says...
Let’s Talk About Surveillance
We’re concerned about
dragnet surveillance
in Glenwood Springs.
Here’s what’s happening
Our city council is considering renewing a $50,000 per year contract with Flock security to operate 21 surveillance cameras in Glenwood. They’ve already been in operation for three years.
You can email council with your thoughts here – this goes to all council members:
Twenty-one surveillance cameras seems like a lot for a town our size. That’s a level of surveillance communist China would be proud of.
The city calls them license plate readers. We don’t.
It’s much more than license plates. They record the make, model and color of a vehicle, and whether it has body damage, a roof rack, or a load in the truck bed. And be careful with your bumper stickers - the cameras recognize them, too.
We think they’re looking at more than just cars - our police have searched the system for “bicycle” and “golf cart”.
Two of the cameras are different – made for people surveillance, although they probably can read a license plate. They can track you as you walk through their view. If they’re not doing facial recognition, it’s probably coming soon.
These cameras photograph every vehicle, maybe every person. Whether or not there’s been a crime. Whether you’re innocent or guilty.
Was the system wide open for the last three years?
Privacy and security are big concerns with a system like this. We studied a system audit that the city released and saw that almost 5000 agencies had searched our system more than six million times last year. Most of those agencies had no legitimate reason to search our system. The city has tightened up access, but we think it was operating without any regard for privacy or security for almost three years.
And yes, Homeland Security and US Border Control searched our system.
Many people think this is an invasion of privacy and a violation of their civil rights. They don’t want to pay to be watched.
Think about it … someone with access to this system could know when your 16 year old daughter is home. And when you’re not.
Opponents say Flock has poor cybersecurity – we agree.
Opponents say Flock’s claims about crime reduction are untrue or exaggerated. We think the opponents are right.
Opponents say rogue police officers have abused Flock to track opponents, ex-wives, and accuse innocent people. They’ve shared data with agencies that shouldn’t have had access. This is all true. It’s impossible to know if many of the searches are legitimate.
Are there other approaches?
Many cities don’t use Flock systems at all. Basalt and Carbondale don’t. Denver council voted to remove them. Flagstaff AZ, Cambridge MA, Eugene, OR, and Santa Cruz, Calif., are among a list of at least 30 localities that have either deactivated their Flock cameras or canceled their contracts since the beginning of 2025.
In New Hampshire, surveillance pictures not matched to a crime have to be deleted in three minutes.
Our city wants to address people’s concerns by tightening up our contract with Flock. We think that’s meaningless and unenforceable. The only way we’d know that Flock was cheating on the contract, would be if Flock told us. They control the audits and reports we see. If they wanted to cheat, why would they tell us?
Surveillance decisions should be made by the community,
not by the police or city council alone.
Let’s have some transparency!
We asked what other surveillance the city is doing, and the city told us, “it is contrary to public interest to share the details of our security arrangements”.
How can we know if surveillance is being used responsibly if it’s kept secret?
The community should be consulted before the city implements any surveillance systems.
Let’s have some accountability!
We support our police officers; they have a tough job, and they work hard to keep us safe.
But six million searches by 5000 agencies last year tells us privacy and security weren’t a concern. There should be civilian oversight, and strong cyber-security.
Any surveillance we allow should be the least amount necessary, accessed by the fewest people, stored in the safest way, and quickly deleted unless there’s indication of an actual crime.
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You can e-mail our city council and oppose renewing the Flock contract.
Here’s the link:
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Want to know more?
Austin Corona has a great story in the Aspen Daily News. It covers a lot of the issues in Glenwood. It’s long; here’s the link:
“If something makes life better for the people who live in Glenwood Springs, let’s do it.
And if it doesn’t, we need to think long and hard about it."