Renton officials have decided not to renew the city’s two-year contract with Flock Safety. When the agreement expires, the city will remove about two dozen cameras that read vehicle license plates. The devices were turned off in May and taken down in August. The decision does not affect Axon and Genetec readers installed in patrol and parking vehicles: those are also turned off, and police do not plan to restart them until they are sure their use complies with state law.
The debate over the cameras intensified after a report by the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights said federal immigration authorities had searched data from Renton and 17 other state agencies. Police said they had not authorized U.S. Customs and Border Protection to access the database and learned about the searches from researchers; afterward, access for outside agencies was blocked. At City Council meetings, residents debated the technology’s benefits and the risks to privacy, particularly for immigrants, refugees and people of color.
In March, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the state’s first law regulating automatic license plate recognition. It bars federal agencies and agencies outside Washington from obtaining data from cameras owned by state government entities. In May, the City Council temporarily disabled the readers to study the technology and its effects. According to police, the Flock Safety program cost the city about $80,000 a year, and the cameras were placed at major intersections and generated no revenue. On Monday, the city formally announced that it would not renew the contract.
Based on: Renton ends Flock Safety contract, removes cameras