Flock camera fallout across western Washington

Our Take

When police departments start scrambling to add 'additional security steps' after a local news report, that tells you something worth paying attention to. KING 5 Seattle's coverage of Auburn, Mukilteo, and Renton reacting to scrutiny of their Flock camera systems isn't just a story about IT hygiene — it's an admission that these networks were never locked down tight in the first place. If your ALPR system needs damage control after a reporter starts asking questions, the problem was baked in from day one.

This is the pattern we keep seeing nationwide: cities install Flock cameras with minimal public debate, vendors promise robust safeguards, and then a journalist or researcher pokes at the system and suddenly agencies are patching holes in public. The bigger issue isn't one misconfigured dashboard — it's that thousands of these cameras are quietly logging every plate that passes, feeding a searchable history of where you drive, and the security around that data has repeatedly proven to be an afterthought rather than a foundation.

Credit to KING 5 for pushing local departments to respond instead of letting this slide. If you're in western Washington or anywhere else, check our camera map to see what's tracking your neighborhood, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back on your city council before the next 'security update' story breaks.