Summit County, Colorado sheriff pauses 30 Flock cameras for 30 days after vandalism and public pushback

Event: August 26, 2026 · First reported: August 26, 2026 · 2 sources

Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons announced on Aug. 26 that his office deactivated its Flock Safety license plate reader cameras for at least 30 days and cut off deputy and detective access to the system, including historical searches. The pause followed a Board of County Commissioners work session on Aug. 25 attended by a Flock public affairs manager, a petition with more than 850 signatures, and the destruction of eight of the office's 30 cameras this month. FitzSimons said his office will conduct an extensive review of its Flock policies and relationship with the company; commissioners said they left the work session with "more questions than answers." The sheriff criticized what he called the board's "predetermined conclusions and political theater," while commissioners countered that the pause responds to residents' concerns.

Why this matters

The dispute shows a sheriff's ALPR program being paused amid public pressure even though county commissioners lack direct authority over an elected sheriff, and it highlights recurring oversight questions about unpublished usage policies, third-party data retention, and interagency sharing.

Key facts

Pause effective Aug. 26 for at least 30 days; all 30 cameras in unincorporated Summit County turned off and system searches, including of pre-pause data, unavailable to staff.
Eight cameras were cut down this month, one turned away from the street and one blocked with a sticker, according to Sgt. Mike Schilling.
A petition asking county officials to re-evaluate Flock contracts gathered over 850 signatures in about a month.
Commissioners said they had not seen the Sheriff's Office Flock policy, which was not publicly posted; the office said it will post it after the review.
Detective Sgt. Mark Gafari said roughly 10 agencies have requested access to the county's cameras since they were obtained via a federal grant about two years ago, none of them federal agencies; the office had opted into Flock's National Lookup tool but will not participate during the pause.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

Summit County Sheriff’s Office pauses use of Flock cameras for 30 days after meeting with commissioners, complaints from public and vandalism (Summitdaily, August 26, 2026)
Summit County sheriff pauses Flock Safety cameras for 30 days (The Denver Post, August 26, 2026)

More from Colorado

Everything we have documented in Colorado, or search every Colorado article in the archive.

About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated August 27, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.