Denver accepting bids for new license plate reader service provider

On Saturday, the office of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced that the city is accepting bids for license plate reader services.

This decision comes after Johnston's decision to extend the contract for the Flock Safety camera program caused tension between the mayor and the Denver City Council. Johnston announced a short-term contract extension with the company in October 2025 despite the council's unanimous decision to reject an extension earlier that year.

Flock cameras have been installed at 70 Denver intersections to help catch criminals. Denver police say the license plate readers have helped officers recover more than 180 stolen vehicles and solve several homicides.

But the community and council members have raised concerns over privacy and who can access the footage. Following the contract extension, guardrails were put in place, and Denver opted out of any updates or rollouts of new technologies with the Flock system without approval.

The city council's Surveillance Task Force reported in January that they had made progress in researching the technology and the vendors contracted with Denver. They hope to have everything finalized before the Flock contract expires at the end of March.

A spokesperson for the mayor's office said Saturday that the city will consider multiple factors when deciding on a new service provider, stating, "The chosen provider will be weighed on several factors and will be required to comply with an exhaustive list of expectations regarding data retention, information sharing, and access limitations. This process is the result of months of collaboration between the Mayor's Office, Council, privacy experts, and law enforcement, as well as community feedback. We look forward to submitting a contract for Council approval in the coming weeks and will announce a provider once selected."