Durango Police Chief Brice Current testified to the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday in opposition to Senate Bill 26-070, a bill proposing regulations on government access to location information databases such as Flock Safety networks.
Current was accompanied virtually by DPD patrol officer Crystal English and resident Matthew Ricketts, a victim of a hit-and-run in Durango last year.
Resident Ben Peters, a vocal advocate for the city of Durango canceling its contract with Flock Safety, spoke in favor of the legislation.
The four were part of a larger group of 70 witnesses who testified for and against the legislation formally called “Ban Government Access Historical Location Information Database.”
In short, the proposed legislation would require law enforcement to acquire warrants to search Flock and similar databases after 72 hours, and would require the data to be purged after 30 days.
The committee hearing mirrored conversations about Flock technology in Durango. The theme of privacy versus public safety was present throughout.
People opposed to location information databases invoked Orwellian surveillance states and warned of government abuse of sensitive data that exposes people’s daily private travel habits. Law enforcement and other proponents of such databases spoke to how cases were solved and justice was delivered thanks to collected location information.
Current spoke broadly to the benefits to public safety and law enforcement provided by the use of technology such as Flock cameras. English and Ricketts talked about how Flock cameras enabled Durango Police Department to identify and arrest the man who hit Ricketts with his vehicle.
Peters highlighted Flock network data he obtained from DPD through a records request and outlined his concerns about how such data could end up in the wrong hands.
Current said the proposed legislation conflicts with “longstanding legal precedent and the practical realities of investigation.”
He said courts have already ruled people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when their license plates are observed in public spaces.
“This is not a dragnet. It’s a rearview mirror narrowly focusing on one vehicle, increasing privacy for uninvolved cars,” he said. “It provides direction and bread crumbs that will help reasonable suspicion, not probable cause. That distinction matters.”
He said license plate data collected by technology like Flock is used to launch investigations, not to finish them. Such data bolster law enforcement requests for search and arrest warrants, while SB 26-070 would require warrants to be acquired before the data can be searched.
Requiring warrants before data can be accessed would hinder investigations, not help them, he said.
“If a warrant is required to access those initial bread crumbs, most investigations will never begin,” he said. “You can’t establish probable cause without first reviewing the information that may help create it.”
Peters said Flock Safety doesn’t require law enforcement agencies to provide warrants, case or incident numbers in order to search its database of vehicle and license plate data.
He said his records requests to DPD revealed data that is “deeply concerning” insofar as who has accessed Flock data collected in Durango.
He said 3,364 agencies across the country performed 694,203 searches that included Durango’s Flock network in August. Eighty-four percent of the searches did not include case or incident numbers, he said.
Three-hundred fourteen of those agencies from around the country have 287(g) agreements with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement – essentially contracts to collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement. He said those agencies performed 91,380 searches that tapped Durango’s Flock network, and more than 57,000 of those searches were “highly suspect” because they lacked case numbers and sufficient reasons for the searches.
“Senate Bill 70 has several important and common-sense provisions that provide a regulatory structure for this technology, including requiring warrants to access data, requiring court orders to share data, limits on retention and procedures for auditing,” he said.
One senator called the number of searches without stated reasoning “stunning.”
Ricketts testified how a hit-and-run in Durango left him recovering from multiple injuries over the past six months.
He said an individual quickly accelerated in reverse, pinning him between the bumpers of two vehicles before fleeing the scene.
“This road’s been a hard and painful experience, and without the tools that law enforcement had to use, this easily could have become another unsolved case,” he said.
Flock cameras allowed DPD to track the individual’s movements and locate him in another town about 50 miles away. Likewise, the technology helped Ricketts get justice and – in a “roundabout” way – helped the individual accept responsibility and start on the path of sobriety.
English said she responded to the hit-and-run and her only lead was the culprit was driving a white SUV with chipped paint, a busted out rear window and a yellow container inside the vehicle. On-scene witnesses were unable to provide a license plate number. A nearby business’ security footage was grainy and did not capture a readable plate number either.
Flock data had captured a license plate for a vehicle matching the description.
“That plate number unlocked the entire investigation,” English said. “Without it, we would not have identified the vehicle, known its direction of travel, coordinated with neighboring agencies or developed a suspect.”
Current said Colorado should not bear the consequences of separate federal policy concerns, and state law should be focused with ensuring location information technology “stays out of the hands of ICE, not out of the hands of local officers and our community members.”
Sen. Nick Hinrichson asked English how long after the hit-and-run Flock data was accessed, and she responded it was within hours.
Hinrichson noted DPD’s use of Flock data in that instance would still be “totally permissible” under the proposed legislation. He said in another circumstance after 72 hours had passed, he would hope an incident date, time and location and a description of the vehicle would satisfy a court’s request for a warrant.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB26-070 following testimonies Monday. The bill is headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration.
cburney@durangoherald.com
