Liberty Lake police outline how Flock license‑plate cameras are used, cite arrests and privacy safeguards

Liberty Lake Police Chief Damon Simmons said the city operates 19 Flock license‑plate‑reading cameras and that the system has produced roughly 1,000,000 unique plate reads in 2025, a figure he said helped identify vehicles tied to crimes and led to arrests.

"The FLOCK camera takes a picture of the front or the rear of a vehicle and also the license plate. Still picture only. No video," Simmons said during a Liberty Lake Deep Dive podcast interview with host David Gaynor. He added: "You can't even tell who's in the vehicle sometime... It doesn't focus on occupants." Simmons described the images as focused on the vehicle and plate rather than people.

Simmons said the department logged more than 1,000,000 unique plate reads last year and that, over the past two years, Flock hits contributed to about 24 arrests for offenses ranging from stolen vehicles and stolen plates to suspects in serious felonies. He also said the department detected five homicide suspects who passed through the city in 2023 and recounted a case in which regional coordination and camera data helped locate and later apprehend a suspect.

Chief Simmons described how the system is monitored and how alerts work. Officers log into the Flock web interface at the start of a shift and leave it open on in‑car or desk computers; alerts for vehicles of interest are delivered by website notification, email and text. He said the Spokane County Real Time Crime Center also receives alerts and that agencies that purchase the Flock service can share searchable access during investigations.

On access and oversight, Simmons said the department limits camera access to commissioned Liberty Lake officers, the department's crime analysts and crime analysts with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, and to other state and local agencies that are paying customers of Flock. "Those agencies cannot access our cameras without giving a legitimate criminal justice purpose for accessing our cameras," he said, adding that his office audits access typically once a month (recently twice a month) and can revoke access if misuse is found. Simmons said the department historically allowed some federal agencies access but, "based on recent concerns," has curtailed some federal access; he did not name specific federal agencies.

On the types of data collected, Simmons described the information as "minimal" and said the system captures license plate, make, model and color. He said the cameras do not capture faces and that registered‑owner information would require querying other databases after a plate number is obtained. "No personally identifiable information is obtained by that system," he said during the interview; the article attributes those claims to Simmons rather than verifying them independently.

Simmons said archived Flock imagery is retained for 30 days and then deleted. He said that retention window is important for reactive investigations when detectives may be unavailable or off shift.

The chief also encouraged private property owners and homeowners associations to consider purchasing Flock service and connecting feeds to expand the searchable network, saying local businesses and HOAs can add value to investigations when they opt into the system.

The episode closed with host Gaynor noting that, as of January 2026, Liberty Lake employs 27 active police officers while the department has 19 Flock cameras, and thanking Simmons for the discussion.

Why it matters: Citizens and privacy advocates have raised concerns about license‑plate readers nationwide; Simmons framed the Liberty Lake deployment as a public‑safety tool that the department says is limited in scope, auditable and time‑bounded by a 30‑day retention policy. The chief's accounts on arrests, usage and access were presented as his statements on the podcast.