Lynnwood clips Flock's wings: Contract canceled with surveillance camera company

Lynnwood votes to cut ties with Flock cameras

The Lynnwood City Council voted to cancel its contract with Flock Safety and remove its license plate reader cameras.

LYNNWOOD, Wash. - The Lynnwood City Council has decided to cut ties with Flock Safety and its surveillance camera systems.

A group of community members have been asking the city to terminate its relationship with Flock for safety reasons for quite some time. They cite concerns about hacking, privacy concerns and data access by federal immigration agents.

A Flock Safety camera sits atop a traffic light on Feb. 23, 2026. (FOX 13 Seattle)

What they're saying:

Lynnwood community members sounded off once again during public comment Monday night about the use of Flock cameras.

"In my opinion, the Flock cameras are warrantless surveillance," said Kylee Jardim, a community member who spoke out against the cameras Monday night.

Some argue that while Lynnwood Police may have made a good faith effort to use the license plate reading cameras, there is no control over what happens to the data nationally.

"I’m not okay with federal agencies accessing it, particularly ICE," said Jardim.

"At its core, these cameras don’t run through a network we control," said Quinn Van Order, a community organizer who helped to spearhead a campaign to get rid of the cameras.

Mayor George Hurst tried to delay the vote until after the state legislature was done deciding on Senate Bill 6002, also known as the Driver Privacy Act, which would regulate the use of automated license plate readers, in part by limiting data retention.

"Earlier today I sent an email to the council asking for delay on their decision on using Flock cameras," said George Hurst, Lynnwood Mayor, at Monday's council meeting.

Others argued Monday during public comment that the state law under consideration is "toothless."

"We’ve gotten over 50 people coming to city council asking us to cancel the contract. We’ve talked about it extensively," said Isabel Mata, Lynnwood City Council Member.

Mata made a motion during Monday's council meeting to add the Flock cancellation into the unanimous consent agenda Monday night, and she says it was approved.

"The contract has been canceled," said Mata.

The Lynnwood City Council holds a meeting on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (FOX 13 Seattle)

What's next:

The police chief previously said the cameras were paused last October after the department discovered outside agencies had broader access to the collected data. Mata says they will now be removed.

"As soon as our attorney does the attorney things, they should be taken down," said Mata.

"It’s a huge win for privacy and, for me, it’s a big win for advocacy," said Van Order.

Council Member Mata says the next step will be to cover up the cameras with something like a tarp and garbage bag to make sure they are not recording people before they are removed.

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