Avon Town Council hears from public on Flock camera use after July 18 incident resulting in $52,500 in damages
Mayor says Town Council has a lot to think about
John LaConte/Vail Daily
About two dozen people attended the Avon Town Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, a meeting in which the first business item on the agenda was a discussion of the town’s Flock cameras.
The town of Avon has 12 automated license plate reader cameras, commonly known by their brand name — Flock — and eight surveillance cameras that are also Flock brand but do not read license plates. The town also has five Dacra-brand cameras that use an automated speed-tracking system from Traffic Logix to issue tickets to speeders going more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit in town.
On July 18, two automated speed enforcement camera poles on Avon Road were destroyed, one speed camera was stolen, a light pole was toppled and a Flock license plate reader camera mounted at that location was stolen. The two speed camera poles were quickly replaced, and a new light pole will be installed next week. The estimated cost of replacing the damaged poles with labor is $52,500, Police Chief Greg Daly said on Wednesday.
The town put out a Facebook post about the incident, which was met with a barrage of support for the crime, garnering more than 18,000 comments. That prompted the Town Council to call for Tuesday’s discussion and public hearing, which saw five in-person comments and one person commenting over Zoom.
Several commenters referenced cases of law enforcement abusing its power when it comes to Flock surveillance data.
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Nicholas Shirley brought up a 2025 case in which authorities in Texas “reportedly used Flock’s automatic license plate reader technology to conduct a nationwide search for a woman they claimed had a self-administered abortion in Texas,” according to a memo to Flock CEO Garrett Langley from Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services.
“As part of this search, Texas law enforcement appears to have reviewed footage from more than 83,000 automatic license plate reader cameras, including cameras in Washington and Illinois, where abortion is lawfully protected as a basic right,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Shirley also referenced a story out of Dunwoody, Georgia, in which a local resident discovered through records requests “that a live feed from the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta had been shared through the Flock network, even though the center’s private network had been marked in the system as ‘do not share,'” according to a report from the Guardian.
“You say that you’re not working with ICE, but can you say without a doubt that some out-of-state agency isn’t able to access the cameras like the Texas deputy did?” Shirley asked. “Flock is a corporation valued at $8.4 billion. You don’t become that large just by selling security cameras to small towns and cities; you become that large by selling businesses access to its AI database and the millions of people it has built profiles on.”
Edwards resident Logan Daniels referenced the Dunwoody incident, as well, saying that the Marcus Jewish Community Center feed that was accessed was of a gymnastics center.
“This was not an adult gymnastics center, but a children’s gymnastics center,” he said. “Take from that what you will. It is disgusting that a breach of privacy like that was accepted and we should be horrified to support a company like that with our local tax dollars.”
Avon resident Daniel Neuhaus said he is adamantly opposed to the use of Flock cameras.
“I believe they should be unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, I believe our law enforcement is perfectly capable of enforcing order without this invasion of our privacy,” he said.
‘We will return’
Avon resident Maria DeSimone said she put together a petition asking the town to remove the automated license plate reading cameras, and had received 466 signatures as of Tuesday.
“We want a safe community, the question is whether or not public safety matters,” she said. “It absolutely does, the question is whether continuously tracking and storing the movements of law-abiding people is the right way to achieve it. These cameras don’t just identify vehicles connected to crimes; they create a searchable record of where ordinary people live, work, worship, receive medical care and spend time with their friends and family. All without being suspected of a crime.
DeSimone said privacy isn’t about having something to hide; it’s about preserving a freedom.
“We protect our homes, our passwords, our personal information because privacy is a fundamental American value,” she said. “Across the country there has been documented cases of law enforcement officers using license plate reader databases for personal reasons … tonight I ask you to do more than end Avon’s contract with Flock Safety, I ask you to reject the continued use of all license plate reader cameras.”
DeSimone said if the council does not act, “we will return not with anger, but with more residents asking to be heard.”
Council comments
Council member Ruth Stanley said the council has been using Flock cameras for years, and the practice wasn’t controversial prior to the vandalism incident.
“The decision wasn’t questioned back when we were having our meetings — we have three meetings before we make decisions — and now we’re being criticized for what we decided without any input from the public,” she said. “Also what troubles me is seeing that people excuse, justify or even applaud the blatant vandalism.”
Council member Chico Thuon said the cameras in town have resulted in slower traffic, a safer community and “keeping the bad guys out,” but he’s also aware that everyone in the room on Tuesday was likely opposed to Flock cameras.
“I am not one for Big Brother, I don’t want people investigating me, my family, anything about me, I don’t want any of that,” he said. “But sometimes it’s the price we pay for public safety, and I’m not sure if there’s an alternative.”
Thuon said he nearly ran someone over with his vehicle in the area of Avon that contains the cameras.
“I just feel it’s a very dangerous section of town,” he said. “We have had a homicide on Highway 6 that could have been potentially solved if we had these cameras installed. I feel like we live in a very safe environment in Avon, we live in a bubble, but the bad guys often come here.”
Council member Rich Carroll said he did not read the Facebook comments that came in following the town’s post about the vandalism incident.
“We’ve heard a lot about how safe of a place Avon is to live, and that’s because of the amazing job our police department does,” he said. “There are big city things that happen here, yet (Police Chief Greg Daly) and everyone that works for him make this a wonderful place to be.”
Mayor Tamra Nottingham Underwood said it likely won’t be the last discussion on Flock cameras in town.
“This has given us all a lot to think about,” she said. “We will take it in and consider and decide on next steps.”
