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Residents and advocates urge Federal Way to suspend Flock license-plate readers, citing privacy and immigration concerns
Summary
Several residents and immigrant-rights advocates urged the city to suspend its contract with Flock and other automated license-plate readers, saying the systems produce few investigative leads and expose vulnerable community members to immigration enforcement; the police chief said the city disabled a national-lookout feature and found no evidence of ICE searches in the local audit.
Public commenters at a Federal Way council committee meeting on Dec. 16 urged elected officials to suspend the city’s use of Flock automated license-plate readers, arguing the technology threatens privacy and endangers immigrant community members.
Colin Kaley, a former parks employee and organizer with SEIU 925, told the committee that studies—including one in Piedmont, California—show "less than 0.3%" of ALPR hits produce useful investigative leads and called dragnet surveillance "not a good way to stop crime." He asked how long the police retain Flock data, saying he understood it could be…
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