Cameras used to automatically capture images of vehicle license plates are being turned off by police in jurisdictions across Washington state, in part after a court ruled the public has a right to access data generated by the technology.
Police in Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley turned off their cameras before the Nov. 6 ruling in Skagit County Superior Court, and Redmond, Lynnwood and Skamania County turned off their cameras after the ruling, according to a report in The Seattle Times on Tuesday.
The debate stems from the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) made by Flock Safety, and whether the images and data collected by the cameras are subject to release under Washington’s Public Records Act.
According to court records and the Times, Jose Rodriguez, a tattoo artist who works in Walla Walla, filed public records requests for the ALPR photos and data of about 50 public agencies across Washington.
“The government can’t just put a tracker on us without a warrant, but these (cameras) are basically doing the same thing,” Rodriguez told the Times. He sued 10 cities, including Sedro-Woolley and Stanwood, that didn’t provide their images and data after his public records requests.
“The Flock images generated by the Flock cameras … are public records,” Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski wrote in her ruling, adding that the images are “created and used to further a governmental purpose” and were paid for and generated for the benefit of the cities fighting not to release the data.
ALPR cameras are intended as a public safety tool, to automatically alert officers and analysts when a vehicle linked to a crime, missing person, stolen vehicle, or other critical incident is detected.
The cameras do not use facial recognition or random surveillance, and images and data are supposed to be deleted from Flock’s cloud-based storage system within 30 days.
Flock Safety told the Times that privacy concerns about its technology are unjustified, and that the company’s cameras take pictures of vehicles on public roads, where there is no expectation of privacy. The company said it is advocating a “legislative fix” to Washington’s Public Records Act.
Privacy advocates argue that the technology could be used for mass surveillance. Researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights reported last month that 18 Washington police agencies had their Flock Safety databases searched this year by the U.S. Border Patrol. The state’s “Keep Washington Working Act” bars most state agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement.
The Redmond Police Dept. started deploying ALPR cameras this summer but turned them off earlier this month after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven people, and raised concerns that ICE had accessed the city’s Flock data.
In another incident, a Redmond man was detained when police acted on an alert generated by a Flock camera. KING 5 reported that the system wrongly flagged the man’s car as being “associated” with his son, who shares his name and was wanted on a felony warrant.
