PRAGMATIC ISSUES

Denver’s latest outrage isn’t about potholes, zoning, or housing this time, it’s about cameras.

Specifically, the 111 solar-powered Flock license-plate readers now quietly watching, logging, and helping police find stolen cars and fugitives.

Mayor Mike Johnston swears they’ve already led to 352 arrests, 250 recovered vehicles, and 39 firearms off the street, a not-bad return for technology that doesn’t demand overtime, benefits, or an ego boost.

And yet, Denverites are losing their collective minds.

The same folks who livestream their brunches, post gym selfies, and geo-tag every coffee run, and who livestream from protests are suddenly screaming “Big Brother!” on Reddit and Nextdoor.

Now it’s all “Denver’s a surveillance state!” and “The mayor’s turned on us!”

Some even claim “ICE will have our plates!”

Let’s take a deep breath. The city has vowed not to share footage with immigration authorities, and so far there’s zero proof it has. But trust, much like sanity on Colfax after midnight is fragile.

Because while I’m all for civil liberties, I’m also for protecting the people who have to tiptoe past Colfax and Downing without dodging drug dealers, human tumbleweeds, and whatever new horror is playing at the Papa John’s.

To be fair, that corner needs 6 cameras, minimum. One for the alley, one for the bus stop, one behind the building, and three catching every plate that rolls into that cursed parking lot.

You could film a whole true-crime docu-series there without even needing a script.

To be even more honest here, critics aren’t entirely wrong. Denver admitted earlier this year that its camera data was accidentally linked to a national Flock network until April, a digital backdoor that could, in theory, let outside agencies peek inside.

So yes, that’s a problem. If we’re going to have “smart surveillance,” we need smarter governance, independent audits, strict data-use limits, and public records of who accessed what, when, and why.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth, Denver doesn’t hate cameras.

We hate being lied to about them.

City council said no to extending the Flock contract.

The mayor’s office did it anyway.

“No cost to the city,” they said which, translated from politician, means “you’ll pay later, in trust.”

The media framed this whole thing as a privacy fight, but that’s not entirely it. Denverites are furious because they were blindsided.

The mayor’s office didn’t level with anyone.

That’s what burns, not the lens, but the lie.

If this administration wants to calm the mob, it needs to democratize the surveillance.

Let the public see the data, the hit rates, the oversight reports. Publish the metrics quarterly. Hold open hearings in every district.

Because my gut tells me and I’d bet a slice of Papa John’s on this, the city isn’t tracking the data or oversight nearly as closely as it claims. So of course people feel like Big Brother is crouched in the bushes, ready to drag them off for attending the next protest.

Until the mayor brings honesty and accountability back into the frame, Colfax will keep policing itself through iPhones, viral TikToks, and exasperated posts on X.

But imagine if those same Flock cameras, backed by transparency instead of spin, actually helped clean up the chaos at Colfax and Downing.

Now that’s a livestream worth watching.