Fort Collins ends Flock camera contract, halts license-plate data collection

Fort Collins City Council voted 6-1 on June 16 to cancel the city’s contract with Flock Safety, directing staff to immediately stop collecting data from the company’s license-plate camera system and remove the cameras as quickly as possible.

The vote changes the city’s current use of the automated license-plate surveillance system and puts any pursuit of similar technology on hold while Fort Collins develops a broader citywide surveillance policy.

Council also directed staff to begin the contract-cancellation process. The action was reported June 19 after months of council and community discussion about the city’s license-plate camera system.

Immediate direction for the Flock system

The council’s direction covers several separate steps: ending the Flock Safety agreement, stopping collection of Flock data immediately, removing the cameras as expeditiously as possible and initiating contract cancellation.

Those directions mean the council has acted on the existing contract rather than simply referring the issue for additional discussion. The vote was 6-1, establishing a clear majority for ending the arrangement and taking the system out of operation.

The available reporting does not specify an exact contract termination date, the remaining cost of the contract or a deadline for completing camera removal. It also does not establish whether every camera had been physically removed as of Aug. 6.

Future bids delayed pending a citywide policy

Along with the directives involving Flock Safety, the council delayed seeking bids for comparable technology until Fort Collins has established a citywide surveillance policy.

That distinction is important for the next phase of the issue. The June 16 action ends the current Flock contract and pauses procurement for similar systems while policy work occurs; it does not establish the terms of any future surveillance policy or identify a replacement system.

For Fort Collins Police Services, the immediate practical change is the end of collection through the Flock system under the council’s direction. For City Council and staff, the next known step is broader policy development before the city seeks bids for similar technology.

Why the decision matters

The decision places the use of automated license-plate surveillance technology within a broader policy question for Fort Collins. Council and community discussion over several months focused attention on the existing camera system before the final 6-1 vote.

By requiring data collection to stop and cameras to be removed while delaying new bids, the council has created a policy checkpoint before comparable surveillance technology can again be considered. Any later procurement would follow, rather than precede, the adoption of a citywide surveillance policy.

Residents and city officials now have two distinct developments to follow: the staff-led cancellation and removal process for the Flock system, and the development of the broader surveillance policy that will govern whether and how Fort Collins considers similar technology in the future.