Everett residents urge ban on license-plate reader cameras; city officials point to safeguards
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Summary
Residents and civic groups urged the Everett City Council to prohibit Flock-style license-plate reader cameras, citing privacy and public-records concerns. City staff and the police chief defended current controls, pointed to a public transparency dashboard and offered a future briefing.
Janice Green, speaking for the 1 Voice Snohomish County coalition, urged the Everett City Council to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the acquisition, operation or renewal of Flock automatic license-plate reader (ALPR) cameras, saying the devices amount to “mass data collection” that catalogs residents’ movements and can be disclosed under the state Public Records Act.
"This is a mass data collection on the general public, not targeted policing," Janice Green said, and she told the council a state trial court has ruled that data collected by Flock cameras can qualify as public records.
The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County submitted a supporting letter read into the record by Nadine Shanti, asking the council to give “comprehensive consideration” to the proposal and stressing civil-rights and privacy risks.
City staff responded that Everett has layered safeguards and transparency measures in place. Jennifer, a city administration representative, told the council Everett requires partner agencies to sign a user agreement that binds them to the city’s ALPR policy, the city conducts audits, and a public-facing dashboard shows access and use data. "No federal agency has ever accessed Everett's Flock data," Jennifer said and added that the city disabled a national-search lookup option.
The police chief reiterated that the ALPR system is used primarily in criminal investigations and to locate missing people, and offered to present data and usage metrics at a future council meeting if members want more detail.
Council Member Tui and others thanked the public speakers and requested a staff briefing to address community concerns, privacy protections and the scope of agency access. Council and staff directed staff to confirm the list of Washington agencies that may access the system and where the public can view that information; staff pointed to a public dashboard at transparency.flocksafety.com/everett-wa-pd.
No ordinance or formal action to ban the cameras was introduced or voted on at the meeting. The council accepted public comment, heard administration assurances, and may schedule a briefing or presentation to provide additional information and documented usage data.