Boulder residents sue over city’s use of Flock cameras

Source Domain: coloradosun.com

Two Boulder residents are challenging the city’s use of 31 Flock Safety surveillance cameras, saying the technology violates Coloradans’ rights by cataloging their movements without warrants.

A lawsuit filed in Boulder District Court on Wednesday night argues the system gives Boulder police broad access to records tracking the movements of people driving and biking through the city — a level of surveillance the plaintiffs say violates privacy and other protections guaranteed under the Colorado Constitution.

The complaint, which seeks class-action status, comes amid broader national debates over privacy, data sharing and police surveillance technology. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare Boulder’s Flock cameras unconstitutional and block the city from continuing its surveillance without a warrant.

“Boulder cannot pretend this is about catching criminals when 99% of the people its cameras surveil every day have nothing to do with any crime,” attorney Andy McNulty said in a written statement. “This is the kind of dragnet surveillance that turns every neighborhood into a checkpoint and every commute into a serious violation of privacy rights. The Colorado Constitution does not permit it and we intend to put a stop to it.”

The lawsuit names Police Chief Stephen Redfearn and Dawn VanAckeren, supervisor for Boulder’s records and information services, who denied a request for records filed by one of the plaintiffs, Wiilliam Freeman.

Sarah Huntley, a city spokesperson, said city officials are aware of the litigation and are “evaluating the claims that are being made.”

“As this is now litigation, we will make our arguments and share our perspective through official court filings and any hearings on this matter,” Huntley said in an email.

After receiving pushback from some community members over its use of Flock cameras, Boulder opened a bidding process in March for other companies to provide automatic license…

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