Last night I sat through the Thornton, Colorado, Police Department's engagement series on new police technologies. During the event, an officer confirmed why the Thornton PD loves Flock, an automated license plate reader (ALPR) provider. It isn't just the AI-powered mass surveillance technology—it's the network. The officer stated that Thornton prefers Flock over all other ALPRs because it has the largest network. Wherever you go across our country, the police will always be behind your shoulder, watching.

Thornton's first date with Flock has enigmatic origins. The City Council will tell you that they never voted to use it in Thornton; the police acquired it through a budgetary loophole where the Flock pilot program was under the dollar amount needed to require a vote. This is not a fluke, as Flock Safety purposely designs its pilot program to fall under the thresholds that would trigger a vote in most communities. Nobody can tell us who made the initial decision either, because everyone says they were not around in 2019 when it was made. But we can all agree that the citizens of Thornton had no involvement in the decision.

There have been plenty of stories of other jurisdictions and federal agencies using Flock to track down immigrants for ICE and women seeking abortions in sanctuary states like Colorado. To the Thornton PD's credit, they have started new auditing procedures, but these do not go far enough. They currently only have the capability to audit instances where a Flock request wasn't filled out correctly, plus twenty additional searches a week.

This type of audit would not have captured what happened in Denver in 2025, where a Texas police officer used Flock to track down a woman who had fled that state to have an abortion. The Texas officer selected the reason for the search as a missing person's case, then collected the evidence and tried to prosecute her for having an abortion.

The Thornton PD admitted last night that Flock's greatest value is its large network. When asked if they would develop their own system, one that wouldn't communicate with any entity outside the city, they responded that this was a non-starter. The Supreme Court keeps whittling away our civil liberties at the federal level, and the most vulnerable people—minorities, women, trans people—are being impacted the most. For the Thornton PD, it is more important to watch everyone outside of Thornton than to guarantee the safety of minorities within the community or those who seek the protection of Colorado as a sanctuary state.

As a community, Thornton needs to protect its most vulnerable people and offer sanctuary for those seeking it in Colorado. Instead, this is being sacrificed so that the Thornton PD can watch all of us no matter where we go or how far we drive. It is an unflattering and unsavory exchange that leaves a hollow pit in my stomach. I will leave you with this quote by Gore Vidal: "As for civil liberties, anyone who is not vigilant may one day find himself living, if not in a police state, at least in a police city."