Boulder Reporting Lab: State Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder has introduced legislation aimed at restricting how police and other government agencies access and share people’s historical location data, which is currently possible through technologies such as automatic license plate readers, including Flock cameras.

While the bill was initially drafted with license plate readers in mind, Amabile said it was later expanded to apply to any technology that collects location data, like drones.

Flock Security provides automatic license plate readers to the Boulder Police Department and hundreds of agencies nationwide, allowing police to retain identifying vehicle data for up to 30 days. Officers can currently search state and national Flock databases without a warrant, using AI-assisted tools that allow descriptive searches such as vehicle color or accessories, like a “ladder in the back.” The police department told Boulder Reporting Lab that Flock “has helped us dramatically reduce auto theft in our community, among other crimes.” 

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