Goldendale police: new FLOCK cameras recorded tens of thousands of vehicle entries and aided a stolen-car recovery

Police Chief Mike Smith said Goldendale—s newly activated FLOCK camera system captured a surge of traffic turning into the city and helped recover a vehicle stolen from a local store.

"In that 24-day period there was 140,000 entered and left the city," Smith told the Goldendale City Council, adding that the system identified 94,309 unique plates during that window. He said the cameras are installed on city entrances rather than directly on the highway, so the counts reflect vehicles that turned into town.

Smith described a recent case in which the camera system assisted investigators: a vehicle stolen from the IGA was tracked through the system to Wenatchee, where suspects were arrested. He also said the system will be useful for AMBER alerts and alerts for wandering seniors.

The chief said three intersections are fully streaming to the city—s system; cameras intended for the park are not yet operational because of a vendor-side technical issue. "The FLOCK system is working on that now to get that hooked up to the system so we can actually view it," he said.

Council members asked whether the traffic data could support grant applications. Smith said it might, but cautioned that eligibility depends on each grant—s criteria.

The update prompted council discussion about staffing and enforcement. The chief noted the department does not have a dedicated traffic-enforcement officer and that the new data highlights higher volumes of traffic entering Goldendale than council members had expected.

The council did not take formal action on the report but thanked the chief and moved on to other business.