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Lynnwood votes to cut ties with Flock cameras
Lynnwood might be the next city to cut ties with Flock Safety and its camera systems, looking to suspend or deactivate the program sue to privacy concerns and data access by federal immigration agents.
LYNNWOOD, Wash. - Lynnwood could be the next city to cut ties with Flock Safety and its surveillance camera systems, as its city council scheduled a vote to potentially terminate its contract with the license plate reader company.
This comes as other cities in Washington and throughout the country are suspending or deactivating similar programs due to privacy concerns and data access by federal immigration agents.
"I don’t trust Flock. Period," said Lynnwood City Councilmember Isabel Mata during Tuesday’s meeting.
"It comes down to our vendor kind of let us down," said Councilmember David Parshall.
The backstory:
Flock Safety is an American manufacturer and operator of automated license plate recognition (ALPR), video surveillance, and gunfire locator systems. The Lynnwood Police Department is a customer of the vendor and started using the system in June 2025.
A total of 25 Flock cameras were deployed. Police Chief Cole Langdon said the license plate readers were installed primarily in the city’s commercial and high traffic areas. Langdon said the cameras have helped the department investigate crimes, including car thefts, robberies, hit-and-run, assaults, and even homicides.
However, the police chief said right after deploying the cameras, the department discovered outside agencies had broader access to the collected data than intended. In October 2025, he pressed pause on the entire operation.
"Once we became aware, we stopped. We did a full pause on it. That wasn’t directed by the mayor, that wasn’t directed by council. That was a decision I made internally once we did our audit and I realized that I had no real way to determine the legitimacy of these other searches," Langdon told city council members.
Langdon said two of those "other searches" were labeled in their data collection system as "ICE" and were accessed by law enforcement in Florida and Pennsylvania.
An October 2025 report from the University of Washington found several local law enforcement agencies authorized U.S. Border Patrol to access license plate reader databases. The UW study also found Border Patrol used "back-door" access to the data without permission of the local agencies.
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Federal agencies accessing 'flock' camera systems
Law enforcement says the cameras, which are through the company Flock Safety, have led to numerous arrests of violent suspects and the recovery of stolen cars. They are installed throughout cities and read license plates as cars drive by. The report from UW shows federal agencies could also access many of the local department’s cameras.
Flock, however, disputes this claim. Paris Lewbel, a Flock Safety representative, told FOX 13, "There is no ‘back-door’ access to Flock Safety's systems for any government agency and Flock does not have any contracts with ICE."
What they're saying:
Many Lynnwood City Council members said the top concern they are hearing from constituents is the community’s growing fear that federal agents are using the Flock cameras for immigration enforcement.
"I don’t like it. I’ve never liked it," said Councilmember Chelsea Wright.
"When a very, very powerful tool can be misconfigured in a way that has real-world consequences for immigrant families and for a lot of people, I don’t think that’s a tool that we should be using," said Councilmember Mata. "I also believe that the harms, the broken promises, and the loss of public trust that this company and product has done outweighs the benefits at this moment and time."
Lewbel said Flock Safety is proud of its partnership with Lynnwood Police Department and other agencies throughout Washington. In a written statement, Lewbel addressed some "common misunderstandings" about the company’s systems.
Lewbel wrote, in part, "Flock’s LPR cameras take still images of the rear of vehicles, including license plates and limited identifying details such as vehicle make, model, color, and distinguishing features. Flock’s LPR system does not track people and does not collect confidential personal information such as names, phone numbers, or home addresses. They do capture objective, point-in-time images of vehicles on public roadways."
Lewbel further stated each Flock customer fully owns and controls 100% of its data, and that the data is deleted after 30 days by default, unless local law or policy requires otherwise.
During the meeting, City Councilmember Robert Leutwyler told Langdon that he firmly believed the chief and the police department utilized the technology to enhance public safety.
"My concern is what the Flock network is capable of. And I’m concerned that I didn’t think state law will really hold up potentially to what this surveillance network could be used for on a national scale," said Leutwyler.
Washington state lawmakers are currently discussing Senate Bill 6002, which would regulate automated license plate readers. The bill would further define who has access to cameras and data, as well as deleting the data after 21 days. The bill passed the Senate and is currently in House committee.
Though the intent of the bill is to add guardrails to license plate readers in Washington state, Mata said it still leaves potential for loopholes.
"I’m not happy with this legislation. And I think if it were to pass, I would be open to the city making our own guardrails to make it even stronger should we want to use ALPR technology," said Mata.
What's next:
Lynnwood City Council could potentially vote as early as Feb. 23 on the possibility of terminating its Flock Safety contract. Lewbel said the company is ready to answer questions and concerns the council may have.
Other cities in the region that have suspended or deactivated automated license plate reader systems include Mountlake Terrace, Redmond, Olympia, Stanwood, and Sedro-Wolley.
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The Source: Information in this story came from the Lynnwood City Council, Flock Safety, the Washington State Legislature and original FOX 13 Seattle reporting.