But after talking to school resource officer David Bonday about how Longmont police use the Flock cameras, he was leaning toward advocating for their use. Bonday told him the cameras only record pictures of the license plate and back of a car, not the driver, and generally aren’t used to track people. Instead, he said, they help police solve three to six crimes a week, including recently helping police find and arrest an armed man involved in a domestic violence incident.
“It’s just a tool,” Bonday said. “Flock helps us search in public places when there’s a serious crime.”
Flock, a private, for-profit company, contracts with municipalities to install the AI-powered cameras. After hearing from advocates concerned about the potential for misuse, the Longmont City Council in December voted to direct city staff to pause all sharing of Flock Safety data with other municipalities and personal data services and begin searching for alternative technology. City staff members at the time said they planned to bring alternatives to the council this month.
Jack said the good appears to outweigh the bad for the automatic license plate reader technology, as long as there are safeguards in how it’s used.
“After talking to a police officer, I’m more open to it,” he said. “It was really awesome to hear the point of view of someone who works with these systems. I think these cameras will make communities safer.”
Jack was part of a group of students researching surveillance and safety at this week’s 16th annual Doing Democracy Day program held at the Longmont Museum. The program asks high school students to develop solutions to thorny problems after giving them the opportunity to talk to city council members, business people, police officers and other area leaders.
Organizers asked government teachers from all of the district’s high schools, as well as the APEX home-school program, to invite students to attend. About 75 students, mainly juniors, participated, as did about 30 community leaders. Along with fielding student questions, community leaders served as judges for the student presentations.
Students were grouped together from different schools and assigned topics on Wednesday morning, then conducted research and interviewed community leaders. Along with surveillance, topics included school cellphone bans, E-bikes, AI in education, the minimum wage and vaping.
After researching, each group presented their work to local leaders during a semi-finals round. The top three presentations were given in front of everyone at the event, then the judges chose a single winner.
Frederick High junior Haley Eaton researched E-bikes, including talking to her town’s mayor about how to address the safety issues. Her group suggested the state should do a better job regulating the motorized bikes, including requiring a driver’s education class and registration. Schools also should educate students about the types of bikes and dangers, while recreation centers could offer adult education classes, she said.
“Everyone is super-engaged and passionate,” she said. “We get to see the legislative and government process and interact with people. It’s really interesting.”
Natalie Brenna, a junior at Longmont High, agreed with St. Vrain Valley’s take on cellphones, which allows them during off periods, lunch and in the halls, but requires them to be put away during class. She said her teachers manage phones with cubbies in their classrooms, with some requiring students to drop off their phone to take attendance.
Her group suggested keeping classroom limits to address phones creating distractions and adding lessons during the seminar class taken by freshmen on mental health concerns around phones and social media, as well as teaching them ways to regulate their phone use.
But a complete ban on using cellphones at school, like the one in place in the neighboring Boulder Valley School District, would be “scary,” she said.
“It feels like I would have so much less control,” she said. “If I needed my phone in an emergency, someone else would be responsible.”
Mead junior Brianna Fehrn had a similar take on AI, saying schools should teach students how to use it responsibly instead of outright banning it, as some of her teachers have done out of fears around cheating. She added giving students more guidance is needed, saying some of her classmates are “very reliant” on using AI for schoolwork.
“We should learn how to work with AI,” she said. “We have to learn how to use it, but not rely on it.”
She said she signed up for Doing Democracy Day because she loves government and politics.
“I love engaging with other people and seeing different perspectives on issues,” she said. “I wanted to open my mind to new ways of looking at the world.”
© 2026 the Daily Times-Call (Longmont, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
