While Denver’s long-running contract with the Flock Group, maker of automated license plate reading cameras, terminates March 31, the fuss over the city’s use of the ALPRs and the data they collect is far from over.

Tim Hoffman, policy director for Mayor Mike Johnston’s office, asked members of the City Council’s Health and Safety Committee to postpone its vote by one week on a proposed 12-month $150,000 contract with Arizona-based camera maker Axon. The delay would give the administration time to finalize the contract before presenting it to council members for review as promised.

“We are getting pretty close to having that (contract) prepared for you, but it was not ready in a timely manner to present to you all in advance, to give you the time to review,” Hoffman said.

The committee was set to vote Wednesday on whether to advance the matter to the full council for consideration, but the mayor’s representative requested a delay until March 18.

Unlike the two previous contract extensions — which Johnston executed unilaterally, bypassing the City Council — the mayor’s office indicated the new contract requires council approval. 

Johnston explained to Denver City Cast that the city needed a “short-term extension” of the Flock contract while it re-evaluated the vendor.

“We didn’t want to shut off access (to Flock) while we did that, but when we bought ourselves the time to do that, and found the right partner, we believe we can now work collaboratively with council…,” Johnston said.

The new deal with Axon comes after months of tension between Johnston and the City Council over mounting privacy concerns and how license plate data could be shared or misused.

In February, Denver City Auditor Tim O’Brien refused to countersign a new contract with Flock, citing concerns of “a risk of liability for the city.”

The nuts and bolts of the deal include 50 fixed ALPR cameras that can be deployed on poles, trailers, or buildings, along with the solar panels, batteries and software to support the system.

City officials said the contract with Axon will include several protections to ensure Denver’s data cannot be accessed by federal authorities or used for any purpose other than those set forth by the city.

Under the agreement, regular data reviews would be conducted, an auditing function would be added, and data would be retained for no longer than 21 days unless required as part of an active investigation.

Denver would also retain full and exclusive ownership of all data, which would be encrypted, and opt the city out of any data sharing.

Axon would agree to abide by Colorado law, including restricting access to the city’s data for civil immigration enforcement, abortion-related investigations, or any purpose not explicitly agreed to.

Finally, Denver’s data would not be used to train AI models.

“While this RFP is an opportunity to turn the page, we cannot take it for granted,” Anaya Robinson, public policy director for the ACLU of Colorado, said in a press release. “Any new contract must include rigorous guardrails around data retention, information sharing, and access limitations. These protections are critical in preventing abuses from government agencies or other bad actors. We cannot trade one dragnet surveillance company for another.”

Clifford Barnes, who heads the Denver Police Department’s cyber bureau, said that when the Flock camera contract ends on March 31, the Flock cameras would be placed in a “decommission mode” until they can be removed.

Councilman Paul Kashmann, District 6, said he was extremely uncomfortable with just the decommission mode on a screen and asked that “at the very least” the Flock cameras also be covered with a hood until they can be removed.

City officials were unclear on the timeline for the complete removal of the Flock cameras after decommissioning.

“As soon as the contract reaches term, our data is purged, and those are moved to decom status,” Barnes said.

Barnes added: “I don’t know at what rate yet they’ll be able to remove them, but obviously we’re going to move as quickly as possible, because the hardware has to come down for us to put the new hardware up.”

But just because the City of Denver will no longer have an agreement with Flock, privately owned Flock cameras, owned by HOAs and local businesses, will still remain, and Barnes said the DPD could still have access to them if permitted by the owner.

Ultimately, it is the private entity that controls access, Barnes said.

The contract will return to the Health and Safety Committee on March 18, 2026.