WA Police Department Shuts Off Flock Cameras

Our Take

Credit to KING 5 Seattle for digging into this one, because it's a rare case where the usual script flips. Normally we're fighting to get departments to even acknowledge how their Flock networks operate. In Sedro-Woolley, the department apparently decided that shutting the cameras off entirely was easier than answering a public records request about them. That's not a privacy win, it's an admission that the system was never built with public accountability in mind.

Think about what this really says: if flipping a switch off is the path of least resistance when someone asks how the surveillance works, that's a sign the whole program was running on trust rather than transparency. Residents in Sedro-Woolley were living under automated tracking of their movements without a clear public accounting of who could access the data, how long it was kept, or who it was shared with. A records dispute forcing a shutdown shouldn't be the mechanism that surfaces that gap — it should be public by default.

This is exactly why we keep pushing people to check what's watching their own streets. Look up your area on our camera map and see if Flock or similar ALPR systems are already logging your plate every time you drive to work or church. If you don't like what you find, our take-action page has concrete steps for pressuring local officials to answer for these systems before residents have to fight in court just to get basic facts.