LYNNWOOD—In reaction to several members of the community voicing their concerns that the City of Lynnwood’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology may have been accessed for immigration-related queries at its October 24 meeting, the Lynnwood Police Department (LPD) announced last week that it temporarily paused the law enforcement tool known as Flock Safey cameras citing public trust.
“Flock cameras have already proven to be an invaluable investigative tool in solving crimes and keeping our community safe,” said Police Chief Cole Langdon. “However, it’s equally important that we maintain the public’s trust. Out of respect for the concerns raised and our commitment to transparency, we have chosen to pause the system while we strengthen safeguards to ensure the technology is used responsibly and lawfully.”
The report titled, “Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems and Immigration Enforcement in Washington State,” suggested that Lynnwood’s ALPR data may have been accessed for immigration-related queries. LPD confirmed that no federal law enforcement agencies accessed Lynnwood’s ALPR data during June 29, 2025 (date the system became operational) and July 8, 2025, (date the root cause and Corrective Action Plan was determined).
Besides Flock cameras, the City of Lynnwood, since 2006, has also utilized red light cameras which have become a familiar fixture at key intersections throughout the city, designed to deter drivers from running red lights and exceeding speed limits in designated areas. These cameras generate approximately $5.6 million annually for the city.
Flock differs from red light camera in that Flock cameras are crime prevention and investigation tools, whereas red light cameras are used to exclusively detect traffic violations (e.g., speeding, running red lights). Flock cameras capture every passing vehicle, including license plate, vehicle image, and GPS location, whereas red light cameras only record when a violation occurs. Flock cameras can track vehicles in real-time, whereas red light cameras do not track vehicles continuously.
According to research performed by the Lynnwood Times, the City of Lynnwood contracts with Verra Mobility—an Arizona-based company—for its photo enforcement program with offices throughout the country in states such as Florida and Indiana. Verra Mobility, operating as a vendor to the City of Lynnwood, can provide photo enforcement data to federal authorities, but only under specific legal conditions typically requiring formal legal requests, such as subpoenas or warrants.
The difference between Flock and our red light cameras is that Flock is tracking people who have not committed crimes,” Quinn Van Order, a spokesman for Deflock Lynnwood, provided in a statement to the Lynnwood Times. “As no warrant is required to access Flock, this constitutes an end run against our 4th amendment rights. Law enforcement has a wide array of tools at their disposal to track criminals, including the ability to dump cell tower location data, but these tools require a court order. This Flock network completely bypasses the oversight mechanism of requiring a court order for surveillance.
According to contracts with other cities, that local city owns the photo enforcement data collected by Verra Mobility systems who acts as the data processor, not the data owner—managing hardware, software, and citation workflows. Federal agencies (e.g., FBI, DHS, ICE) may request access to photo enforcement data from Verra Mobility for investigations and through local jurisdictions but there is no automatic sharing of red light camera data with federal authorities.
Washington State passed the Keep Washington Workers Act (KWWA) during the 2019 Legislative Session which recodified state law ensuring “the state of Washington remains a place where the rights and dignity of all residents are maintained and protected in order to keep Washington working.”
The KWWA (RCW 43.17.425) does the following:
- Prohibits state and local law enforcement providing aid in federal civil immigration enforcement.
- Bans holding individuals in custody solely based on immigration status.
- Restricts sharing nonpublic personal information with federal immigration authorities.
- Limits interviewing or detaining people based only on immigration status, except in specific public safety scenarios.
Preliminary research by the Lynnwood Times is discovering that unlike Flock Safety’s ALPR network, which allows real-time cross-jurisdictional access, Verra Mobility’s systems are not designed for broad surveillance. While Flock data can be accessed by thousands of agencies nationally, including federal ones, often without a warrant, Verra Mobility’s photo enforcement data is event-specific triggered when a traffic violation occurs.
If a federal investigation involves a specific vehicle or incident captured by a Verra Mobility camera, the agency may (not must) obtain footage through legal channels.
The Lynnwood Times is awaiting confirmation from LPD and the City since Friday on how data privacy and system access for the Flock cameras are any different than that of red-light cameras, and confirmation if the City has confirmed with its vendor, Verra Mobility, that photo enforcement is not being shared with federal authorities.
In the month of September, according to the LPD, the Flock Safety system flagged 594 vehicles that were actively being investigated for a crime. In just one month the system notified the city of a violent person associated with a vehicle 76 times, and 138 vehicles were associated with domestic violence protection orders and three missing persons. The system has also assisted the City of Lynnwood locate a missing elderly male, helped catch a suspect involved in an identity theft case at the Lynnwood Rec Center, and has helped catch active felons and those involved in an armed robbery at Alderwood Mall.
Author: Mario Lotmore
