Drawing news coverage and driving headlines, a noisy rabble of political activists gathered in north Denver last Wednesday to vent their orchestrated outrage over the city’s use of breakthrough surveillance technology in nabbing lawbreakers. They directed their ire at the administration of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston for extending the city’s police contract with Atlanta-based Flock Safety to operate Denver’s 111 license plate-reading cameras. 

In other words, the self-styled civil libertarians are upset the mayor has decided to fight crime.

But the real news occurred a day later, across the metro area in Aurora. Aurora police announced they had arrested a man from Honduras on charges of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, menacing and illegal discharge of a firearm. The charges stem from a shooting on I-225 the previous weekend. The suspect, Celin Villeda Orellana, 38, was about to flee the U.S.

Instrumental in tracking him down: a Flock camera. 

An Aurora police press statement recapped the development: “Using Flock Safety cameras equipped with license plate readers, Aurora police investigators were able to identify a suspect vehicle. Orellana was later identified as the registered owner and as the suspect in the shooting.”

There’s more. It turns out Orellana was previously deported from the U.S. in 2007, 2018 and 2020, according to Aurora police. The 2020 deportation came after Orellana was arrested in Denver on child sexual assault charges involving a victim under the age of 15. 

He is now in ICE custody pending federal charges. And Aurorans are probably feeling a bit safer, thanks to some solid police work — and to Flock.

The remarkable devices use artificial intelligence to scan vehicles’ license plates and other characteristics. The data is sent via cell network to central servers that log the information into a searchable database for comparison with data at the National Crime Information Center and other law enforcement databases. The information is cross-checked with law enforcement watchlists of vehicles that are stolen or of interest to the police in connection with other crimes.

Gazette columnist Mike Rosen recently spelled out what a game changer Flock has been for law enforcement. Denver’s 12-month pilot program using the technology resulted in a drop in auto thefts from more than 12,000 in 2023 to 8,550 during the trial run. Nearly 300 arrests were made, and 170 vehicles were recovered, along with 29 firearms. Rosen wrote that Flock even aided in the investigation of Denver homicide cases. 

Rosen also reported how Flock is catching on around the metro area. Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly cites the technology as one of the “force multipliers that allow us to fight crime proactively and effectively,” and Arapahoe County has approved a Flock contract extension and the addition of 17 new cameras.

While reasonable privacy concerns are likely to accompany the introduction of any new surveillance technology, the hysterical push-back to Flock and related developments seems a lot more political. The hysteria appears staged and stoked by the soft-on-crime crowd, which is inclined to view every criminal penalty as too harsh, every criminal as a victim, and every bust as unjustified. No wonder they oppose Flock — or anything else that aids police work.

It’s a mindset that drives the political fringe among ruling Democrats at the legislature — and afflicts some members of Denver’s City Council.

The activists and their enablers in political office are angry at Johnston simply for extending the working relationship with Flock another five months, for free, without first seeking the council’s approval. Johnston in fact deserves the public’s praise for doing so.

The mayor never will be able to please the criminal coddlers on the council. That’s OK; it’s the public’s safety, not the council’s political agenda, that matters.