A Denver woman is suing police, Flock Safety and two Colorado towns after a sergeant falsely accused her of stealing a $25 package citing Flock surveillance footage as evidence.
Chrisanna Elser was cited with theft in September 2025 after Columbine Valley police Sgt. Jamie Milliman told her the town of Bow Mar’s surveillance cameras captured her forest green Rivian driving through town the same day a package disappeared from a thief.
“You know we have cameras in that town. You can’t get a breath of fresh air in or out of that place without us knowing,” Milliman said to Elser, according to Ring doorbell footage of the Sept. 27, 2025, encounter viewed by The Colorado Sun.
Elser told the sergeant she had no idea what he was talking about and asked several times to watch the video that Milliman insisted proved her guilt, but he refused to show her.
When Elser offered to show her own evidence to prove her innocence, including footage from her Rivian’s onboard cameras, Milliman said she could bring it to court.
Now, she is suing the officers and Flock Safety in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleging that the warrantless tracking violated her constitutional rights and that Flock’s surveillance system unlawfully documents Coloradans’ movements.
The federal complaint, which seeks class-action status, names Milliman, Columbine Valley Police Chief Bret Cottrell, the towns of Bow Mar and Columbine Valley and Flock Safety.
“The scariest part is what happened to me can happen to anyone. I had no idea the Flock cameras existed and no idea a private company was keeping a record of every time I drove past my own neighborhood, or that any officer could pull it up without asking anyone or giving a reason for doing so,” Elser said in a statement Tuesday. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.”
In an email, a Flock Safety spokesperson defended the technology, saying it is “an investigative tool used alongside other evidence” to help law enforcement solve crimes.
“As noted in the complaint, the Flock system accurately identified the location of Ms. Elser’s vehicle, while law enforcement retained responsibility for interpreting and weighing that information as part of the broader investigation,” Paris Lewbel, Flock’s public relations manager said. “Flock stands by the accuracy and integrity of its technology and intends to vigorously defend itself in this litigation.”
Elser’s attorneys faulted Columbine Valley police for hiring Milliman a year after he was fired by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in 2013 for “shoddy investigative work” and “failure to follow the Constitution.”
In a 2013 termination letter, the division chief of the patrol division said Milliman failed to take reports from citizens are required by policy, had failed to advise a suspect under the age of 18 of her rights before questioning her and failed to complete required paperwork and documentation in the sheriff’s office’s computer-aided dispatch system, according to the lawsuit.
“Knowing this, Columbine Valley hired him anyway, and empowered him to use Flock’s mass surveillance system without any oversight,” attorneys wrote.
Six Flock cameras in Bow Mar, next to Columbine Valley, captured Elser’s movements, according to the lawsuit. Bow Mar pays Columbine Valley $300,000 a year for police and court services.
Milliman ran the search of Elser’s license plate because the Flock system allowed him to do so and no policy by Columbine Valley, nor Bow Mar, forbade him, the lawsuit stated.
Elser did not steal anything, but spent the following two weeks proving her own evidence to a department that did not return her calls, she said.
The doorbell video of the actual theft, which Milliman refused to show her, showed a woman who attorneys claim does not look like her, and never got into a car. Elser’s truck, her phone and her tailor’s security cameras showed where she was at the time of theft: more than quarter mile away, being fitted for a gown.
Columbine Valley’s police chief ultimately voided the summons, but Elser, a financial advisor, was almost placed on administrative leave, her attorneys say. Elser suffered “extreme emotional distress” for being accused of committing a crime for the first time in her life, the civil rights lawsuit said.
Cottrell, the town’s police chief, said in a November 2025 letter that Milliman’s demeanor was “unprofessional and inconsistent with the standards of a sworn police officer,” but did not cite any errors in his use of the surveillance footage.
“Coloradans pass Flock’s cameras on the way to work, church, the doctor, a protest, and a friend’s house, and Flock keeps a detailed record of their every movement. It knows where you went, when you went there, and how often you go back, and it gives that information to a police officer with no limits,” attorney Andy McNulty said in a statement. “We are asking a federal court to say what should be obvious: Flock’s surveillance is straight-up creepy and the government does not get to follow everyone, all the time, without any reason for doing so.”
The lawsuit comes amid a national debate over privacy, data sharing and police surveillance, as Flock Safety also faces a growing number of contract cancellations from police departments and towns reconsidering the technology.
At least 10 Colorado counties and towns have cut ties with Flock’s license plate reader surveillance cameras in recent months, including Routt, El Paso and Moffat counties, Fort Collins, Steamboat Springs, Salida, Calhan, and Longmont. Some police departments, like Durango, are instead turning to Axon, a body-camera and public safety technology company, prompting concerns among residents who oppose the expansion of mass surveillance.
Among the latest, Gunnison police and the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office suspended their use of Flock cameras. The agencies had already decided not to renew their contracts with Flock, but decided to deactivate the cameras after the license plate reader led Montrose police to pull over a car mistakenly thought to be stolen.
As officers approached the car with weapons drawn, a woman said there were children in the car and put her hands out the window. After recognizing one of the kids and running their names in the system, the officer realized there was a mix-up and apologized to the woman.
“If the technology misses once and leads to an outcome — call it adverse — one miss like that is too many. (Sunday’s) the first I know of that we’ve had a miss like that. That’s too many. For me, it’s an easy decision to be made,” Gunnison Police Chief Sam Costello told The Montrose Press.
Montrose police are holding a community meeting Thursday to answer questions over how the technology is used “to support public safety and help solve crimes” in the Western Slope town.
In another example of how Flock alerts can lead police astray, a man was repeatedly pulled over in Cherry Hills Village after Flock cameras alerted police that his truck was associated with an active warrant. Both the man and the police department have confirmed that he has no warrant.
Six Flock cameras in Bow Mar, next to Columbine Valley, captured Elser’s movements, according to the lawsuit. Bow Mar pays Columbine Valley $300,000 a year for police and court services.