Covington Flock cameras damaged in light of anti-surveillance campaigns online

Our Take

KOMO News' report out of Covington, Washington is a snapshot of something we're seeing pop up in scattered pockets nationwide: communities deciding, on their own, that they don't want a permanent record of every car that passes a given corner. Police Chief Adam Easterbrook describes cameras blown up with fireworks and poles cut clean down — not isolated pranks, but a pattern persistent enough that the department is still tallying repair costs two months in.

We're not in the business of cheering property destruction, and we won't pretend vandalism is a substitute for policy change. But the underlying frustration is legitimate. Flock's ALPR network was sold to city councils as a quiet, low-cost crime-fighting tool, with little public debate about retention windows, data-sharing agreements, or who else gets query access down the line. When residents feel like the only lever left is a crowbar, that's a signal the normal channels — public comment, council votes, transparency requests — aren't working the way they should.

If you want a legal, lasting way to push back, that's where organized oversight comes in: FOIA requests, council meetings, and public pressure campaigns that force cities to disclose contracts and audit logs. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and head to our take-action page for tools to fight back the sustainable way. Credit to KOMO News for keeping local accountability reporting alive on this story.