Four of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office’s 30 Flock Safety automatic license plate reader cameras have been cut down.

Sgt. Mike Schilling said all were vandalized the night of Aug. 6, a few days after someone tampered with another Flock camera by turning it so it no longer faced its intended area. Deputies corrected the turned camera, Schilling said, but because of the value of the cut-down cameras, whoever vandalized them could be arrested on felony charges.

Two of the cut-down cameras formerly stood along Colorado Highway 9 between Gateway Drive and Revett Drive, just south of the Gold Hill trailhead. Schilling said he could not comment on the locations of the affected cameras because of the ongoing investigation and the potential motives for the crime.

“Those cameras could have been intentionally tampered with in some sort of deliberate attempt to make a specific area of the county less secure,” Schilling said.

Whoever vandalized the cameras could also have been motivated by recent national and local pushback against the use of automatic license plate readers, Schilling added. He said that even if people have issues with the cameras, “criminal vandalism is not the answer.”

“It’s tempting to view this as just someone who’s sticking it to the government,” Schilling said, “but it’s really one person, or a small group of people, who really have no authority, and they’re acting out in a way that could endanger public safety of … an entire section of our community.”

Flock cameras have drawn criticism nationally because of misuse by individual police officers. In Colorado, immigration-related national searches reportedly accessed camera data from Denver and Boulder despite state laws restricting local law enforcement’s collaboration with federal immigration control. A petition asking Summit County elected officials to re-evaluate contracts with Flock Safety has garnered nearly 600 signatures. 

Viral videos on social media have encouraged people to vandalize or tamper with Flock cameras, with some describing how to do so while minimizing the risk of being caught.

Schilling said the Sheriff’s Office understands that Flock cameras are controversial and is monitoring the conversation about them at the national and local level. He said people with concerns about or support for the cameras should take them to their elected officials, not commit a potential felony as an act of “vigilante justice.”

Law enforcement has a variety of uses for Flock cameras, Schilling said, including addressing threats in real time, solving cases, exonerating wrongly accused people, finding runaway juveniles and people in mental health crises, and confirming people have evacuated during emergencies. He added that the Sheriff’s Office views the cameras more as a tool to help victims quickly.

The Breckenridge Police Department also has Flock cameras, and chief Dawn Layman said none of her department’s cameras have been tampered with or vandalized recently.

Schilling said he could not comment on what the person or people who cut down the cameras did with them. On Aug. 10, the only part of the camera that had stood on the southbound side of Highway 9 near Gold Run trailhead was the bottom of its pole.

Schilling also could not comment on any potential leads or suspects in the investigation, but he said anyone with information can submit an anonymous tip through SummitCountySheriffColorado.gov under the “Services” drop-down menu.

The Sheriff’s Office plans to get the cameras put back up, Schilling said, although the costs of replacing the cameras is not yet clear.