In June 2026, after being asked by residents, City Council directed city staff to begin developing a policy to govern the use of surveillance technology. Although a draft policy was published recently, it does not govern how the city uses surveillance technology but rather delegates broad, unchecked authority to the City Manager. The City Manager, an unelected official, has the power to make decisions without input from residents or members of the City Council. Decisions around surveillance happen without oversight, under a vague and under-specified directive to “reasonably” “weigh”, “balance”, and “consider” privacy, freedom of movement and association, and “other protected rights”. The policy provides no rubric or guidelines for this “balancing”, and all decisions are made at the City Manager’s discretion without any option for overriding. Our rights and privacy are not to be “weighed” and then trampled upon simply for the sake of efficiency. It is unacceptable that violation of our civil liberties and 4th amendment rights, whether by the city or a third-party, ever be justified with “cost savings” or any other internal metric. Worse still, public notice only occurs at the final approval of a new surveillance technology, and only if the technology is deemed “high impact”.
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This draft policy fails to address the community concerns that prompted its creation. While drafting this policy, the city knew what the community wanted: they had previously hired Colorado Humanities to find out and assemble a report. Insultingly, there is almost no overlap between this community input report and the draft policy, making it clear that this public engagement was all just for show. Residents made it clear that we want independent audits, citizen participation in technology review, stronger City Council involvement, and more scrutiny as to whether surveillance is even appropriate or needed to begin with. This policy is NOT the community consent, transparency, and democratic oversight that community members have been fighting for. The city has not listened, though it pretended to.
Make no mistake: there are sharks in these waters. Private surveillance corporations have immense resources and armies of lawyers, salespeople, and engineers. They know how to burrow their way into the machinery of government. They know how to write deceptive contracts, full of deceitful omissions and half-truths. They know how to cheat governments and communities while breaking laws without being caught. Do you know how much damage they could do in the policy’s 90-day trial period that does not require ANY approval or public notice?
If the city is to deploy and operate surveillance technology at all, full disclosure to the community at all stages, regular independent security audits, requiring warrants where public entities would need them, and clear enforceable limits on data sharing and retention are non-negotiable. The policy requires none of these things and does so at great risk to the public. Thus, we reject it along with all its already-apparent loopholes. We are frustrated to be put in this position, where leaders in a free society are once again reaching for the tools of authoritarians without consent of the governed or due process of law.
Until a surveillance policy that is serious and respects our fundamental freedoms as Coloradans, Americans, and human beings is presented, Northern Colorado Privacy Coalition calls upon City Council to require that a corrected policy be produced and residents to reengage with civic processes and continue to advocate for our collective privacy rights.