DENVER, Colo. (KMGH) — Law enforcement may one day need to obtain a warrant in order to search the data collected from license plate readers in Colorado during certain investigations, if a piece of legislation currently being drafted becomes law.
That's the goal behind a new bill being introduced this year by State Sen. Judy Amabile, D-District 18.
“These are automated license plate readers, and they have very quickly become ubiquitous. They're all over the place," she said. “They're being used in ways that are extremely helpful for law enforcement and that are going to benefit our communities in terms of community safety. But they are also being misused, and also they're being used in a way that's a little bit sloppy by some departments. And we want to be careful that we don't inadvertently step on people's privacy rights.”
The controversial cameras — made by Flock Group, Inc. — have contracts with nearly 100 law enforcement agencies throughout Colorado that use the safety technology.
Our Denver partners have covered the debate surrounding the cameras extensively, with proponents saying they are a critical tool in catching criminals, and opponents claiming there are privacy issues with the technology as well as concerns about the data being given to the federal government.
In Denver, the data cannot be shared with the federal government, according to a new five-month extension of the city's contract with camera maker Flock Group, Inc., announced in October.
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"I'm definitely not anti-Flock cameras or anti-license plate reader technology," Amabile said. "I'm interested in making sure that we're doing it the right way.”
According to Amabile, the bill would require law enforcement agencies to identify certain members who are allowed to search such databases.
“It will ask that a person in a law enforcement agency be tasked with — or maybe multiple people — be tasked with doing the searches, so that not every single employee will have access to this database. But you'll have to have somebody who has been trained, who understands what the rules are, and who that person will be tasked with accessing the data and searching the data," said Amabile.
In addition, the legislation would require law enforcement to detail a reason for searching the database, along with identifying information about the case in question. If an investigation is extended past 24 hours, Amabile said law enforcement would have to obtain a warrant to search the Flock camera databases in most situations.
“We have, you know, exigent circumstances that are excluded from that need for a warrant. Like, somebody calls up and says, 'My car just got stolen. Here's the license plate number.' Then law enforcement would be able to search the database right away for that," Amabile explained. "So, if you give permission, if there is an emergency happening, then this designated person can search the database and begin the investigation to stop the crime.”
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Amabile said the warrant portion of the bill, which is still being drafted, has received the most pushback from stakeholders so far. Still, she expects to garner bipartisan support on the measure as it moves through the Colorado State Capitol.
"They talk about the horseshoe, where the right meets the left. I do have colleagues from the Republican side who absolutely do not want government to invade their privacy, and so we will be talking to both sides of the aisle on this bill, and I think we have a very good chance of having it have bipartisan support," said Amabile.
The state senator believes the bill is a common-sense approach that will help ensure the public understands how the Flock cameras are being used in their community.
"It is not a ban on using these cameras. What it is is guardrails around the use of the cameras and also around the use of the data that they generate," Amabile said. "I hope it gives people comfort that these cameras are being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes."
Denver7 reached out to Flock Safety about the new Colorado bill, and received the following statement:
Flock Safety supports legislation that creates guardrails for how license plate recognition data is used and shared, while preserving the effectiveness of this important public safety tool. Flock is strongly in favor of common-sense regulation that preserves the ability of law enforcement to use these highly effective technologies, while requiring the sorts of safeguards and accountability mechanisms communities expect. We stand ready to be a resource to the legislature as they consider these important issues.
The 2026 Colorado legislative session begins on Jan. 14.
