Cameras at about 70 intersections throughout Denver snapped tens of millions of images of automobiles’ license plates and flagged suspected stolen automobiles to police in 2024.
The eight-month pilot program resulted in regulation enforcement recovering about 170 automobiles and arresting practically 300 individuals. It helped resolve homicides, robberies and hit-and-runs, in response to the Denver Police Division.
However because the Metropolis Council prepares to determine whether or not to increase this system for an additional two years, the surveillance gear is elevating privateness considerations and questions on whether or not federal brokers might get hold of the information for actions like deportations.
Right here’s how the cameras work: When a automobile passes by an intersection with a digital camera, it takes a photograph of the license plate and what the car appears to be like like. The system then cross-references the license plate with nationwide and native regulation enforcement databases. If a plate matches one listed within the system as stolen or concerned with against the law, the Denver Police Division is notified — with a pinpoint of the place the picture was taken — inside about 15 seconds.
“It’s only a concern that we’re creating some severe potential for unintended penalties through the use of the tech,” Councilwoman Sarah Parady stated throughout a Security, Housing, Schooling and Homelessness Committee assembly final week.
The Denver Police Division says the corporate, Flock, solely shops the images for 30 days except they’re flagged as a part of an investigation. Flock additionally doesn’t have contracts to work with the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“For anybody to entry our DPD knowledge… they need to signal and attest that they gained’t give the data to ICE or use it for civil violations associated to that,” Denver police Cmdr. Jacob Herrera stated.
The 2-year extension of the 111 cameras deployed all through Denver would add $666,000 to the contract, bringing the whole program price to about $1 million.
Automobile thefts have gone down in Denver because the pilot program started. In 2023, greater than 12,000 automobiles had been stolen within the metropolis. In 2024, there have been about 8,500 automobile thefts, in response to Denver police knowledge. Herrera attributes that lower to a number of initiatives, together with the cameras.
Throughout the committee assembly, Councilwoman Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez raised questions on whether or not DPD tracks when the system makes errors. Detroit lately paid $35,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging a girl and her little one had been wrongly detained because of the Detroit Police Division’s use of license-plate readers.
Herrera stated Denver police don’t have a proper system for monitoring false positives, however that the division makes certain officers know the expertise isn’t foolproof.
“We talk very strongly to the officers… You continue to must be an observer, an investigator, earlier than you pull this automobile over or take motion. That is only a likelihood, it’s not a certainty,” he stated.
The system takes images of about 2 million automobiles each month on common, Herrera stated. The images are restricted to the automobiles themselves and don’t embody drivers or passengers.
Councilman Kevin Flynn requested in the course of the assembly whether or not the system could possibly be challenged as a violation of the Fourth Modification, which protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures.
“This method doesn’t have any of these options which have brought on both the US or the Colorado Supreme Court docket to say there have been constitutional violations,” stated Matthew Kirsch with the Denver District Legal professional’s Workplace.
The Security, Housing, Schooling and Homelessness Committee forwarded the proposal to the total council, which is scheduled to vote on the measure April 14.
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