Denver police search license plate data far less often since switching to Axon. The cameras still log 565,000 plates a day

Denver police officers are searching the city's license plate camera data far less often than they did a year ago, according to records 9News obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act and reported on Oct. 28.

Under Flock, the city's former vendor, the department ran 4,466 searches in July 2025. Under Axon, the current vendor, it ran 165 in July 2026. The station counted an average of about 3,400 searches a month under Flock and about 260 a month under Axon.

Why it matters: these cameras photograph the plates of almost every car that passes them, including those of people never suspected of anything. How often police search that data, how long it is kept and who can see it are the questions the City Council has argued over for two years.

What the department says

A Denver Police Department spokesperson told 9News in writing that the drop mostly reflects a smaller rollout. Only about a dozen people can search the Axon system while it is still being piloted, the spokesperson said, compared with a large share of officers under Flock. The department also said the two systems may count searches differently, and that it still considers plate readers a valuable investigative tool. It declined an interview.

The cameras themselves have not slowed down. According to 9News:

• 50 fixed camera locations logged 11,869,829 plate reads in the 21 days ending Oct. 14, or about 565,000 a day.
• 37,798 "hot list" hits in the same period. Those are real-time alerts for plates tied to stolen cars, missing people, runaways and other attempt-to-locate cases.
• Retention is 21 days under Axon. The Flock order form set 30 days, and the department said all Flock data was purged when that contract ended in March 2026.

What our records add

The Axon contract passed by one vote. On March 31, 2026, the Council adopted Council Resolution 26-0246, a one-year, $150,000 contract with Axon Enterprise for 50 cameras, by a 7-6 vote (roll call):

• Yes (7): Flor Alvidrez, Kevin Flynn, Chris Hinds, Diana Romero Campbell, Amanda Sandoval, Amanda Sawyer, Darrell Watson
• No (6): Stacie Gilmore, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Paul Kashmann, Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady, Jamie Torres

It got there slowly. The Health and Safety Committee postponed it on March 11 and approved it for filing on March 18. At the full Council, Flynn called it out on March 23 for a one-week delay (Legistar).

What members said that night. During the March 31 debate, Lewis said that if the city was set on using the technology, the city itself should own the cameras and store the records (video at 1:55:03). Parady, who has since left the Council, voted no. Her seat is on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The Flock extension never came close. In May 2025, a proposal to add $666,000 and two years to the Flock contract, 25-0413, failed 0-12, with Sandoval absent (roll call). Before that vote, Lewis raised concerns about Flock in particular and how its data is pooled (video). CBS Colorado later reported on the dispute over the mayor's decision to keep Flock running without a Council vote, and Colorado Politics reported in February that the city was ending the Flock contract.

There is no money for plate readers in the 2027 budget yet. At the Sept. 23 budget hearing, a Council member asked the police chief about spending on surveillance technology. Chief Ron Thomas answered that there is no current funding in the 2027 budget for automatic license plate readers, that the contract expires in March 2027, and that the department is working out how to keep the program going (video at 25:00).

What's next

• March 31, 2027: The Axon contract ends. Any renewal or new contract above the city's approval threshold would go back to a Council committee and then a Council vote.
• Nov. 9: The Council's final vote on the 2027 budget, which as proposed does not include plate-reader money, according to the chief.
• Nov. 3: Voters fill the at-large seat that was one of the six no votes in March. The winner would be seated for any renewal vote next spring.

Search everything Council members have said about the cameras with our transcript search.