The Denver City Council has voted unanimously to shutter a highly successful anti-theft auto license plate tracking system. The system was not closed due to concerns about privacy or finances. It was shut down because Democratic members believed that ICE could use the data to deport illegals.
In May, the council refused to renew the $666,000 contract with Flock for camera monitors around 70 Denver intersections to screen for car theft. That system resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars and 300 arrests. It is also credited with key evidence in the investigation of hit-and-run and murder cases.
However, it could also be used to assist ICE, and that is all that matters. Councilman Kevin Flynn explained it is all about Trump’s election: “We know that it can help solve crime. But I think since maybe Jan. 20 of this year, those concerns are greatly heightened and have a new reality about them.”
Council member Sarah Parady added:
“We’re living in an era where just this last week, actually, an executive order came out instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to look for reasons to prosecute local elected officials and activists who they believe are, quote, unquote, obstructing ICE enforcement. This kind of surveillance technology is a gift if you have that kind of ill intent, and the federal government has that ill intent right now.”
Mayor Mike Johnston also stated that they need to halt these arrests because “today’s environment is much different than when the pilot began in early 2024, and there are new community concerns surrounding this technology.”
The police are obviously not happy but car thieves are thrilled. If this seems utterly insane, keep in mind that this was a unanimous vote of the city council.
Jonathan: Kudos to the Denver City Council for refusing to renew its Flock license plate reading system. Local state jurisdictions are not required to cooperate with ICE. Denver residents are entitled to have their privacy protected against wrongful arrests that have nothing to do with crime prevention.
The ACLU, which opposed renewing the Flock contract, pointed out that this year in Northern California ICE gained plate access to a similar system to monitor more than 5 billion license plates, hoping to find vehicles operated by the undocumented not connected to any crime.
DJT told voters last year he would only target “criminals” for deportation. He lied. To meet “Reichfuhrer” Steven Miller’s quota of 3,000 immigrants per day ICE is now identifying and rounding up the undocumented who have committed no crimes and are law abiding, paying their taxes, supporting their families and contributing to their communities. They are the innocent victims of of DJT’s draconian immigration policies. They should be given the opportunity to regularize their immigration status rather than being snatched off the street by Gestapo-like masked agents and summarily deported to a country with which they have no connection. There was nothing “insane” in the vote by the Denver City Council!
$666 K. Yep, the Devil’s number….and the fascist Left is clearly Satanic. Just look at their eyes
$666 is certainly concerning. But, a profoundly immoral man like Trump selling Bibles? That’s clearly more Satanic.
“hoping to find vehicles operated by the undocumented not connected to any crime”
Being in the country illegally is a crime, dumbass.
And they’re not “undocumented” they’re illegal aliens, per the US Code.
“DJT told voters last year he would only target “criminals” for deportation.”
Guess what. If you’re in a country, any country, illegally, you are by definition a “criminal.”
Sam,
Not very bright is he.
“Not very bright is he.”
I wish that were the explanation. The Left would be a lot more respectable.
Very simple solution. If the locals apprehend a violent criminal, they call the feds and a couple of officers arrive and detain them. No trouble, no resistance, follow the law.
When a municipality refuses to cooperate, then the federal agents must seek them out. If they are with others who are illegal then they will be apprehended as well. It takes more manpower. When crowds gather, for the safety of the officers, they must come in overwhelming force.
They wear masks because the cartel, who are a violent, well equipped army, will hunt down the officers and kill them, their families and can bring much harm to them.
Those who choose to live in a delusional bubble, will one day experience violence. They may call for the police and they won’t come.
Who in their right mind chooses violence and criminals over the safety of citizens? That would be insane!!
TDS > public safety.
TDS above all. If Trump praised oxygen they’d put plastic bags over their heads. It’s madness.
Denver, you get what you vote for. Look forward to increased crime, higher taxes, higher auto insurance, etc.; all thanks to your Demoncrat overlords.
Trump (unintentionally) is making it way easier to create a gun registry and then use license plate readers to illegally search and monitor lawful gun owners.
The 4th Amendment only allows searches when a “past” crime occurs and there is evidence pointing to a particular person or place.
Once this real evidence of a “past” crime exists. Here is the most important part: the government official must testify under penalty of perjury (penalty of jail) that the evidence is true. Then a judge gives permission for a search with a judicial-warrant.
One of the primary causes of the American Revolutionary War was “general warrants” by the Redcoats, which helped inspired the Declaration of Independence which we celebrate on July 4.
In 2018, the “originalists” on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on “Carpenter v. U.S.” outlawing longterm warrantless surveillance of any person since it resembled the “general warrants” which helped launch the Revolutionary War. Carpenter’s “personal mapping clause” could apply to all forms of totalitarian style surveillance that create dossiers of Americans without probable cause of a “past” crime.
On the immigration issue, using license plate readers we are violating the 4th Amendment rights of thousands of Americans for every criminal we catch (1000’s of innocents to catch 1).
Trump guarantees a future president will use license plate readers and other technology against legal gun owners (without court oversight).
Your blather isn’t any more sensical than the last time you tried it. And that stretch that you’re making, just to attack Trump, must have thrown your back out. I can find you a good chiropractor if you’d like.
The NRA (National Rifle Association) would likely disagree with Trump weakening our system of constitutional due process, since it also weakens 2nd Amendment due process.
I’m sure Wayne LaPierre will draft a memo shortly from one of his mansions on the topic. Or is that prison? I can’t keep track.
Program’s System Cost:
$666,000 ÷ 70 Intersection Cameras = 9,514.29/year (792.86/mo.) per Intersection
Return Performance: 170 stolen cars and 300 arrests
$666,000 ÷ 170 stolen cars = 3,917.65/car
$666,000 ÷ 300 arrests = 2,220/arrest
$666,000 ÷ 470 (170 stolen cars plus 300 arrests) = 1,417.02/car & arrest
[The later is skewed, assuming the Car recovery was made with an Arrest]
You don’t need DOGE or A.I. to figure this one out. A 4th grader could do the Math.
If Denver is the ‘status quo’ for Intersection Cameras System cost – Wake Up America!
It’s not like the DA would even charge the criminals anyway. What is the point in even having police in a blue hellhole?
The calculations above are Technical Cost only.
The additional cost of; Personnel, Processing, Detention, Legal Proceedings, the Cases are not included.
High Tech LEO does not deliver cost effective results, Crime is Street born, and must be delt with in the Streets.
Sitting behind a Monitor, processing surveillance data, and dispatching Law Enforcement is not a cost effective way to handle it.
Deportation stops the Criminal before more crime by Illegal Aliens can occur. Granted more crime is committed by U.S. Citizens but many of these are in concert with Illegal Aliens (Drug Distribution, Rackets, etc.)
“That system resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars . . .” (JT)
Here is more crime prevention that Denver citizens will no longer enjoy:
“Child Sex Trafficking: Last summer, during the NFL Draft in Detroit, MI, local police in Taylor collaborated with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to crack open an online child sex trafficking ring. The investigation, which used Flock’s LPR devices, led to the arrest of 7 individuals who were preying on children.
“Massive Retail Theft Operation: The Denver branch of the FBI collaborated with local law enforcement and used Flock technology to find the suspects in a “brazen” $12M jewelry heist from a Denver mall.
“Electronics Burglary Criminal Enterprise: In a 6-month collaboration between local police in Gwinnett County, GA, the FBI, DEA, and Homeland Security, law enforcement were able to identify a massive burglary operation and recover over $6M in stolen property.”
There is no greater injustice than sacrificing the innocent to protect the guilty.
This could be fun to watch! Will auto theft crime go up? Or will the city council vote to not report auto theft crime too? They will call it “racist.” Then how does a legal citizen report the theft to their auto insurance if there is no police report? Colorado, soon to join the failed state of CA in the “failed state” status. Trump should relocate ICE to other cities and let Colorado go to the illegals. Then sit back and watch and see what happens.
If this action was done to aid and abet illegals, whether legal or not, what we need to do as citizens is to shame those who did this.
I know, I know, you can’t shame the shameless. But I think that the time is ripe in this country to do just that, and applt great effort in bedeviling these wokesters at every turn.
We are far too timid about pushing back and exposing the danger, the insanity, and the anti-American actions of the left.
We give the woke/progs more power than they have. I am beginning to think that, at this moment in time, the prog/left are like Iran; a paper tiger, full of hate for America but just bluster and sanctimony.
“what we need to do as citizens is to shame those …”
So that sit, shame them. Sounds like the dems playbook tactic.
You do realize that it s Denver, not your fantasy world.
So you’re telling folks to waste their time on attacking the Denver because you don’t like what they’re doing? That makes you officially – CRAZY.
@whimsicalmama
I think you’re correct, but it’s a party in lockstep. Marxism, woke progressivism, etc. – these things are poison, and you know what they say: once you’ve touched the poison, you poison everything you touch. If there are any actual Constitutional liberals left, they have willingly handed over their minds, compasses, and spines.
I also think our indoctrinated/undereducated-educated youth is only growing, and that *will* bear fruit in the future if we don’t apply the brakes. NYC is a warning, and we’d best heed it.
Insurance companies will just start refusing to operate there, and those that do will charge insane premiums. That’s across the board, too, not just auto, as crime tends to truckle and expand in those circumstances. Everyone’s cost of living will go up and up and up. Our dems seem to be incapable of not destroying everything they touch, particularly economic stability.
Colorado is one of my family’s ancestral American places. It used to be an amazing state, I’m reluctant to even visit now (my brother lives there), and I *don’t* visit the Eastern Slope anymore. Even the Western Slope is capitulating though through absurd cost of living and ever more woke policy, it is solidly a blue state these days. The price of a home in formerly sleepy Gunnison in 2025 is unreal. Don’t think this can’t happen wherever you live, it doesn’t take anything but unconscious people and time.
They’ll force the insurance companies to remain in the state, cap their rates, deny rate increases, bankrupt them. Then they’ll start a state-run insurance plan, which will be even worse. Anything to avoid admitting fault, as Democrats are never wrong. But Karen will get a warm fuzzy as she swills her chardonnay.
@Anonymous
That has occurred to me, too. Joy. 🙄🙄🙄 I say let them make their bed, fine – it’s the collateral damage over time to the rest of the country that concerns me. Many of us have watched it happen in realtime in our places, and 2020 definitely put a brick on the accelerator. It’s madness.
James,
One would think they would only have to look to the failed state of CA and their homeowners/fire insurance policies. While it is regrettable these things are happening, at least they are happening over there. Let them continue passing bad policies and the fall out of those bad policies. Watch as their citizens suffer not just from increased insurance rates but crime rates too. And let that be a stark reminder of how and why they are failed states. And a lesson for not voting for leftist Democrats.
If watching your house burn to the ground due to Democrat ineptitude doesn’t shake Karen from her stupor, nothing will. I’m sorry to say that these people are simply lost.
@Anonymous
I don’t think you are wrong. We still have friends in NYC (not the uber-wealthy) that are so insulated they think everything is fine; if they were kicked out of their own homes for squatters or robbed of everything they owned they would find a way to justify it. The programming on the left is very deep, and seemingly unshakeable for those afflicted. 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
@Upstate
I guess my concern is that people leave failed states and take their baggage with them.
Look no further than Texas for an object lesson: Houston, Austin, and suburbs of Dallas are already blue – all that is needed to flip the state are the holdouts in Dallas. Grapevine is not going to be deciding elections, just as Delta county isn’t in Colorado. As people flee failed cities and states, this will creep in everywhere if we aren’t very conscious. A tiny foothold and one more chance to completely eradicate our checks and balances is all they need. The lawfare of the past year is plenty of evidence of that. If they were in power again and packed SCOTUS – its over, for good. That doesn’t even take into account redistricting et. al.
We have to fathom that between just CA and NY we are talking about tens of millions of very blue and affluent people. If we don’t want it, we had better make that clear in no uncertain terms at the midterms and then again in 2028. There is no room for voter apathy anymore, however exhausting it may all be, and there is a big, disparate chasm between those that make five or six figures a year and those that make seven plus and will vote blue no matter who. Those mentioned are indeed still a minority in this country, but it doesn’t mean diddly if the rest of us don’t stand up.
As someone who has his pickup stolen in a Denver suburb, I ma not happy and also not surprised. The chart of total thefts has come down from a high a few years ago, but I am sure it will reverse and now trend upward. Auto Insurance is though the roof in Colorado, partially because of hail and fire, but also because of theft and uninsured illegals (in a state where insurance is mandatory for citizens…)
The Left’s sanctuary cities punish innocent Americans. They endanger our safety, our property, our lives.
Exhibit A (which is really Exhibit Z): “That system resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars and 300 arrests. It is also credited with key evidence in the investigation of hit-and-run and murder cases.” (JT)
We ask only that the government protect us from criminals. In a grotesque moral inversion, the Left tells those criminals: You have free rein.
Denver is number 2 in the nation for car thief. 30% of cars are not insured in Colorado. Our insurance rates reflect those statistics. I’m overinsured on all our vehicles and property for my own protection. Stolen cars, no insurance, no driver’s license, failure to stop for red lights and stop signs, excessive speeding and hit and runs are the normal in Denver metro. Marxist Colorado. The sheriff of Weld County said the reason they keep restrict guns and ammo here is because the government is afraid we will shoot them. There may be some truth to that. Also the city of Denver has over 40,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS.
This is the Insane path the Democratic National Communist party wants to force us into chaos. Protect the criminal prosecute the Law abiding. People need to wake up to the fact that unless they stand up to this Lawlessness, they will be forced into Communism. It is the DNC Plan.
When the Democrats accuse you of insurrection, it’s because they’re already doing it.
So let me get this straight: As law-abiding, tax-paying, good citizen motorists, we’ve paid for and been subjected to this (4th amendment violating) government tracking system for YEARS.
But then some dimwitted Dems think, “Hey! That could also be used to track and arrest illegal immigrants who are, prima facie, breaking Federal law! We must shut it down NOW!”
Did I get that right?
The reports seem to say the current contract expires next year. This is a nonrenewal. If there is remaining runway, this measure invites Tom Homan to flood the zone with ICE now, using the current system. We’ve seen him flood the zone in Boston and other cities. Who knows? Maybe the next Denver City Council vote closes the city streets so ICE can’t drive in to detain illegals. It’s pretty clear Denver is accomplished at shooting itself in the foot.
This is the same mindset that had the Democrats in Chicago want to get rid of the gunshot sound system that enabled the police to respond to the area of gunshots rapidly thereby saving lives and making it easier to catch the shooters, which also ends up saving lives. But the liberals ended the system because it turned out that the vast majority of the gunshots came from minority areas and the left wanted to protect the poor minority illegal gun owners. LEGAL GUN OWNERS DON’T SHOOT AT PEOPLE IN THEIR COMMUNITY, THEY HAVE GUNS TO PROTECT THEM FROM THE PEOPLE WITH ILLEGAL GUNS.
Watch car thefts skyrocket, causing insurance premiums to skyrocket and liberal blame in on the auto insurance companies.
Please. They’ll blame it on Trump.
Ahem. One does not preclude the other.
Why not both, indeed. You’re so right.
Most of the respondents here are making comments on insanity and stupidity. It has nothing to do with that. The Democratic Party is importing millions of voters to replace YOU. They are looking out for their future voters because they have become convinced that 10-20 million illegal immigrants can simply be converted to full time legal voters with a congressional amnesty. And those new voters will vote Democratic because they will follow the goodies that the Democrats promise them. It has been openly discussed over the past few years even by Democratic leadership. They are quite clear about that.
Thats why they have basically abandoned their prior base of legal immigrants, African Americans, blue color workers, Hispanics. They are no longer reliable Democrats.
Their plan is upper class white liberals, a scattering of the remnants of their old base and a mass of illegal immigrants will lead them to the promised land of a permanent majority.
Actually getting more diverse groups on the ladder to success and financial solvency and wealth gives them skin in the game and they want to protect what the hard work has earned them. People tend to get more conservative when they have much to protect.
The Democrats in 2021-2022 would have amnestied the illegals and packed the court but they never got the votes to ditch the filibuster and when they did get the votes in 2023-2024 they had lost the House and were stymied again. It’s all about the illegals and votes.
GEB, two things can be true at the same time. It is stupid and/or insane, especially if the motivation is to protect a replacement population that won’t assimilate, or even worse, are violent criminals.
Yep. Your comment should be tattooed to the useless forehead of every Democrat in the Country.
More proof for what you said, aren’t illegal aliens counted in the census, thus giving Democrats several House districts that they wouldn’t have otherwise? Effectively canceling out the votes of actual citizens.
GEB,
Your comment is very timely, Who Counts? Trump Poised To Try To Remove Noncitizens From Census
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/06/26/who_counts_trump_poised_to_try_to_remove_noncitizens_from_census_1118884.html
Denver use to be a nice place to visit and attend conferences. Merchants etc cleaned their sidewalks etc. but under the DEMS especially the last few mayors/city councils Denver has become the San Francisco East. Its not a safe city and forget about walking around. This DEM Mayor and city council protect and are for illegals and the radical left DEMS Woke crowd.
My wife and I visited Denver a couple of summers ago and the main impression I came away with was the odor of piss and weed. Nothing else really stands out.
Well, I don’t know about the “piss and weed” but I’ve heard there are mountains nearby!
Revisit 2024 case ,Trump v. Anderson. Colorado courts ruled Trump off ballot, 14A, article 3.
Colorado has dual statehood. Mexico reclaimed territory. ICE has no jurisdiction regarding Mexican nationals.
$666,000 is a pricey sum. Denver is hungry and blighted.