Buena Vista trustees on Nov. 26 heard a presentation from Flock Safety and the police department about a proposed system of three license‑plate reader cameras, then debated privacy, accuracy and cost before voting to keep the project in the town’s draft 2025 capital budget.

The police chief and Jonathan Paz, a Flock Safety representative joining remotely from Boston, described the company’s ALPR (automatic license‑plate reader) cameras as an investigative tool that can produce license‑plate images and a “vehicular fingerprint” to help locate stolen cars, support Amber Alerts and assist time‑sensitive investigations. Paz said the system is not facial recognition, that agencies own their data, and that footage is hard‑deleted after 30 days unless it is associated with an open criminal case.

“I don’t want this to be used for tracking or routine surveillance,” Jane Cole, a resident who spoke during public comment, asked. She raised three direct questions: whether town cameras are necessary given county coverage, how a 10% Flock error rate reported online would affect innocent people, and what checks would prevent misuse.

Chiefs and the vendor said searches require a documented case reason and case number and that every search is part of an audit trail. The chief described local incidents—vandalism, a suspected trespasser and a missing‑person case—where cameras in neighboring jurisdictions provided leads that assisted officers. The vendor provided examples from other Colorado agencies and emphasized the company’s “transparency portal” and audit features.

Trustees pressed on technical and policy details: how camera alerts and cross‑jurisdiction searches work; whether LTE bandwidth fluctuations during summer events would degrade performance; who outside the town could access images; and how to prevent improper personal searches by individual officers. Trustee questions repeatedly returned to policy: who signs data‑sharing agreements, how retention and open‑records rules apply, and whether local policy could restrict access.

Residents and some trustees warned of misuse risks. One trustee cited national reporting of officers who repeatedly searched a spouse’s plate; another pointed to potential sales of the system to homeowners associations. Supporters argued the cameras are a force multiplier for an 11‑ or 12‑person department stretched thin during peak tourist seasons and pointed to jurisdictions that reported decreases in vehicle thefts after installing ALPR systems.

After discussion, Trustee Roe moved to remove the Flock project from the budget citing redundancy with county cameras, operating costs and privacy concerns. The motion failed in a roll call vote, with four trustees voting to keep the cameras in the draft budget and two voting to remove them. The board left the funding in the capital projects list so staff and trustees can continue negotiations on policy and technical details before any purchase contract is signed.

What’s next: The town left the cameras in the draft 2025 budget and directed staff to continue gathering technical information, clarify proposed locations and draft a policy on data access, retention and sharing. The trustees scheduled final budget adoption work for Dec. 10.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A at the Town of Buena Vista Board of Trustees meeting, Nov. 26, 2024. Direct quotes and policy descriptions are based on remarks from Jonathan Paz (Flock Safety) and the police chief during the meeting.