More license plate readers coming to Lone Tree

LONE TREE, Colo. (KDVR) — Flock Safety Cameras are used in more than 5,000 communities across the country, and about two years ago, Lone Tree decided to embrace this technology.

“We’ve seen resounding results with them,” said Commander Ron Pinson with the Lone Tree Police Department.

Each Flock Safety Camera sends a real-time alert to law enforcement when a stolen car or wanted suspect from a state or national crime database is detected. They also will send an alert if a vehicle is detected that is associated with a missing person in an Amber or Silver Alert.

“They’ve been helpful locating stolen vehicles. Been helpful in developing us leads for other major crimes or anything,” Pinson said.

Lone Tree has ten of these Flock Safety cameras employed across the city. They can be found in two homeowner association neighborhoods and one business district.

“A lot of times the criminals or the people who steal the vehicles are the criminals that are coming in to do other crimes,” said Pinson. “So, it’s nice to be able to locate them. Be able to identify them really, really quickly.”

Lone Tree will be adding more cameras by the end of 2024, and even though the city is already considered safe, Pinson said he hopes this will continue to keep crime rates low.

“This just provides us another tool that we have at our disposal to continue to keep it safe,” Pinson said.

The cameras have already aided in a few high-profile cases including a shooting this past summer, and a homicide in 2023.

“It was a strange incident that occurred. All we really had was a vehicle,” Pinson said. “We were able to get onto Flock, do some searches for that type of vehicle, and it led us quite a ways down the road.”

The cameras are used to capture license plates and vehicle characteristics, not people or faces.

“These cameras don’t take pictures of the people inside the cars. They’re catching a rear view of the vehicle. So, it’s not as if you’re able to tell who the driver is, but it just gives you a lead to help you in locating the people who might be associated to that car,” Pinson said.

Matt Zettel lives in one of the neighborhoods that recently employed the use of the license plate reader technology and said it provides peace of mind.

“It’s just an extra deterrent for anyone that might have some ill thoughts on doing something wrong in the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s good to have them around.”

In addition to Lone Tree, other communities with these cameras include Aurora, Boulder, Commerce City, Denver and Lakewood, just to name a few.

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