Boulder Residents Sue Flock Safety Over 31 Camera Network

Two Boulder residents filed a class-action lawsuit on Thursday morning alleging that Boulder police use flock safety cameras to scan cars without probable cause or a warrant. The suit targets 31 cameras in Boulder and says the city has run the system continuously since Jan. 6, 2022.

William Freeman and Gwen Steel

William Freeman and Gwen Steel are the named plaintiffs. They are asking Colorado courts for undetermined monetary damages and an order stopping Boulder from using Flock cameras without a warrant.

Freeman also says Dawn VanAckeren denied his request for all Flock records tied to his own vehicle. The lawsuit says that denial violated the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.

Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn

The complaint says Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn deployed the cameras without safeguards protecting privacy. It also quotes him as saying, "Defendant Redfearn’s deployment of the Flock technology constitutes a dragnet search of the movements of every person who drives in Boulder."

The suit also quotes Redfearn as saying, "No court has found probable cause to believe that criminal activity is afoot on Boulder’s public roads twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week," which is the friction point at the center of the case: Boulder police say they are gathering road data, while the plaintiffs say the system turns ordinary driving into warrantless mass surveillance.

June 2025 data access

The lawsuit says Boulder allowed law enforcement agencies outside of Colorado to see its Flock data until June 2025. It says some of those agencies were known to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which extends the dispute beyond local policing and into who else could see the camera records.

The city said, "Boulder and its police department are evaluating the claims made in the lawsuit" and added, "Future arguments and perspectives about the case will be made through court filings," leaving the next legal fight to the district court record rather than public statements.

The immediate question for Boulder residents is whether the court will allow the city to keep using the 31 cameras while the case moves forward, since the plaintiffs are asking for both damages and a warrant requirement that could change how the system operates if they win.