The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado lawmakers are trying to write rules for the age of “everything is a camera,” including license plate readers, facial recognition, drones, and traffic cameras. If that sounds like a lot, it is.
- Senate Bill 70 would generally require a warrant before law enforcement can access databases built from license plate reader data, with some exceptions like emergencies. It also tackles how long that data can be stored, and lawmakers even backed off parts of that storage limit after pushback.
- House Bill 1037 would generally prevent local law enforcement from buying Coloradans’ personal data from private companies, including highly precise location data. Yes, that is a thing. No, it should not be a thing.
- Law enforcement came in hot against these proposals, arguing the tech helps solve violent crimes and that requiring warrants earlier could slow investigations. The vibe is: “We are not trying to spy, we are trying to work cases.”
- Privacy advocates brought their own receipts, including testimony about getting swept up in inaccurate tech dragnet. Meanwhile, only SB 70 cleared its first committee hurdle. Votes on HB 1037 and a broader Zamora Wilson surveillance bill got delayed while sponsors try to shore up support. Translation: the building is nervous.
My Bottom Line
Some parts of my job are “stare at the ceiling at 2 a.m.” tough. That comes with the territory. You get elected to be decisive, to be firm in your convictions, and to keep your community safe. I take that seriously. I also take seriously the part where you are elected to listen. Not perform listening. Real listening. The kind that occasionally changes your mind. When these bills first landed, Weld County heard from our sheriff and our initial stance was oppose. The logic was straightforward: why would we take tools away from law enforcement in a state that too often treats cops like the villain in every story? I am unapologetically law and order, and I am not changing that. My record is what it is. But then I heard from many of you. And not in the usual internet-food-fight way. Thoughtful, specific, liberty-focused concerns. The kind of comments that force you to look at a policy through a different lens. And here is the truth: you can support law enforcement with your whole chest and still believe government needs guardrails when it comes to tracking people. You can trust the men and women doing the job in Weld County and still recognize that systems outlive people, and power gets misused when rules are vague and accountability is optional. Let me say it plain. I understand there is not a right to privacy in public spaces. I get that. But there is a difference between an officer seeing you drive down a road, and the government building a searchable history of everywhere you have been. Liberty is not just a slogan we trot out on the Fourth of July. Protecting individual freedom is one of the highest proper roles of government, especially when technology makes it easy to cross lines without anyone noticing. So call me “wish-washy.” Call me a “flip-flopper.” Sticks and stones. I would rather be accused of changing my mind than be guilty of refusing to think. Upon further consideration, my initial stance was wrong. In my role as an elected representative, I need to act in a way that protects the liberty of the people I serve – I fully support both these bills.Source: The Denver Post
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