City leaders in Renton are expected to vote next week on whether to renew the city’s contract with Flock Safety, even as plans move forward to physically cover the city’s automated license plate reader cameras.
City leaders in Renton are expected to vote next week on whether to renew the city’s contract with Flock Safety, even as plans move forward to physically cover the city’s automated license plate reader cameras.
The Renton City Council approved a motion Aug. 3 to cover the cameras while they remain inactive. No covers have been installed yet, and could mean redirecting city crews from their work on the Sartori Elementary School traffic safety project, which aims to be in place by the start of the school year. If the cameras do end up being covered, it would be with dark garbage bag material and zip ties.
The cameras have been turned off since early May and are being monitored to ensure they remain inactive.
The latest action follows months of debate over Renton’s use of automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, as city leaders weigh their value as investigative tools against concerns about privacy, data sharing and public trust.
Council members considered two other motions during their Aug. 10 meeting. A proposal to pause the city’s contract with Flock Safety was pushed to next week for a vote, while a motion from Councilmember James Alberson to reactivate the cameras was rejected.
Members of DeFlock Renton, a group opposed to the surveillance system, are urging the council to go further and terminate the city’s Flock contract.
The group argues that physically covering the cameras acknowledges concerns about the technology but does not prevent the system from being reactivated later. Members are calling for lasting restrictions on what they describe as warrantless tracking through artificial intelligence-powered license plate surveillance.
“If we're going to be actually not using the equipment and we're going to turn it off anyway, we should just end the contract and move forward,” said Matthew Lang, a member of DeFlock Renton. “The contract, it feels like it's a boiler plate contract that they just sent out to 500 cities throughout the country. There's no tailoring and it's very vague in certain areas."
The Renton Police Department has operated roughly two dozen Flock cameras at major intersections and roadways across the city.
ALPR cameras capture license plate information and other vehicle characteristics. That information can be stored, searched and potentially shared through networks that extend beyond the jurisdiction where a camera is located.
The technology can also provide valuable investigative leads, according to police.
If a witness reports seeing a certain type of car leaving a crime scene, for example, investigators can search for vehicles matching that description within a particular area and time period. That could turn up a license plate number or other vehicle details that help investigators identify a suspect.
Police also use ALPR technology to help locate missing people and identify stolen vehicles or vehicles associated with wanted people. Renton police have access to ALPR technology separate from the Flock camera network.
However, these same capabilities can also allow governments to build records of where people travel without obtaining warrants, raising concerns about privacy and civil liberties.
“There is a public institution that is using a private data collection company, and we don't have any control over what happens to that data,” Lang said.
Those concerns intensified in Renton after University of Washington researchers identified security and data-sharing issues involving Flock systems.
Research from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights found instances in which the U.S. Border Patrol obtained license plate information from Washington law enforcement agencies through Flock Safety networks. Researchers found that Border Patrol agents had accessed Renton data several times without authorization from the city or Police Department.
The department paused all external data sharing through Flock after learning of the issue.
Still, the findings fueled public backlash over the technology and came amid a broader statewide debate over limits on how ALPR systems should be used.
Privacy advocates have also pointed to cases elsewhere in the country in which ALPR technology has been misused or raised concerns involving stalking, surveillance of protesters and abortion-related investigations.
Washington lawmakers have since imposed new restrictions.
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a bill establishing limits on law enforcement use of ALPR technology. Under that law, police use of ALPRs is generally restricted to purposes including investigations of felonies or gross misdemeanors, searches for stolen vehicles or vehicles associated with people who have arrest warrants, and efforts to locate missing or endangered people.
Shortly after the law was signed, Renton shut off its Flock cameras and began reviewing the system for potential conflicts with the new requirements. The cameras were later reactivated, but the City Council voted 4-3 on May 4 to pause the program again.
The cameras have remained inactive since then.
For some residents who oppose the system, physically covering the cameras offers an additional safeguard and visible assurance that they are not collecting information.
Councilmember Alberson has questioned that reasoning, arguing that covering the devices could send the opposite message about public trust in the Police Department.
He has said placing covers over the cameras could insinuate that the department does not know whether its own cameras are operating or that city leaders do not trust police to keep them turned off.
The debate is expected to continue beyond next week’s contract vote.
City officials are planning a town hall to explain how Renton police use ALPR technology and answer residents’ questions about the system. A date has not been finalized.
