Custer County Sheriff’s Office ends contract with Flock Safety cameras
CUSTER COUNTY, Colo. — The Custer County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) has ended its contract with Flock Safety, the company that provides automated license plate reader cameras.
The sheriff's office said a Flock contractor removed the remaining cameras from the county this past weekend.
The decision comes after the sheriff's office used the technology in several serious criminal investigations, while also facing growing concerns from residents about privacy and how license plate reader data could be used.
The sheriff's office said its Flock system played a role in several investigations, including a 2023 triple homicide in Custer County.
While deputies were still working the crime scene in November 2023, the sheriff's office says they issued a nationwide Be On the Lookout, or BOLO, alert for the suspect.
According to CCSO, a deputy in a neighboring county used Flock to locate the suspect's vehicle at a Walmart in Salida. Officers from the Salida Police Department and Chaffee County Sheriff's Office responded, but the suspect had already left the area.
The following morning, CCSO says a Flock camera in Santa Fe, New Mexico, recorded the suspect's vehicle.
The U.S. Marshals Task Force, along with state, county and local law enforcement agencies, used that information to estimate when the vehicle would reach Albuquerque.
Officers were able to locate the vehicle and conduct a high-risk traffic stop. The suspect was arrested, and no one was injured, CCSO said.
More recently, CCSO said Flock technology helped locate a vehicle stolen during an armed carjacking involving a juvenile in Silver Cliff.
The sheriff's office said they used Flock to locate the stolen vehicle in Cañon City. Other agencies later pursued the suspect before ending the pursuit.
According to CCSO, the suspect later fired at officers and members of the public while driving north on Highway 115. The suspect carjacked two additional vehicles before being arrested by Colorado Springs police, according to law enforcement.
Sheriff's office cites privacy concerns
CCSO initially operated three Flock cameras. The sheriff's office said the system originally allowed license plate data to be shared with law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The data was automatically deleted after 30 days, according to CCSO, which said that was below Colorado's one-year legal storage limit.
CCSO says Colorado law prohibits law enforcement agencies in the state from sharing license plate reader data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE or sharing data related to reproductive health care services.
The sheriff's office said reports from around the country alleging that officers had misused license plate reader databases for searches unrelated to criminal investigations also raised concerns.
Sheriff Smith said he was troubled that a tool he considered valuable for investigations had been misused.
CCSO also said a growing number of Custer County residents contacted the sheriff's office with privacy concerns and asked for the cameras to be removed.
The sheriff's office notified Flock on March 24 that it wanted to cancel its contract. A Flock contractor removed the remaining equipment from the county this past weekend, officially ending the contract, says CCSO.
The sheriff's office said it is aware that other companies offer similar automated license plate reader systems and acknowledged those systems could raise similar privacy concerns.
At this time, CCSO said it does not plan to install another license plate reader system or the photo radar cameras discussed in the past.
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