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License-plate readers · Cowlitz County

Cowlitz County

Using license-plate readers · 1 agency documented

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Kelso Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
  1. 2026 City's Flock Safety web page describes stationary plate-reader cameras that send real-time alerts on vehicles in the state crime information database (stolen vehicles, Amber and Silver Alerts, missing persons) and links a Flock transparency portal. (City of Kelso, date not shown)
  2. July 2026 Kelso police began putting up Flock cameras near main roads, including I-5 exits. Chief Rich Fletcher answered privacy concerns in a public statement: officers can search the data only in felony or gross misdemeanor cases or where the law otherwise allows, every search is logged for audit, and images are erased after 21 days unless kept as evidence. (KLOG, July 24, 2026; KIRO 7, July 25, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Chief Fletcher's statement came about July 23, 2026 (KLOG, July 24, said 'yesterday'). Number of Kelso cameras not stated by the city or news reports.
  • The linked Flock transparency portal (kelso-wa-pd) could not be opened. The city page is undated; '2026' is the year it was checked alongside the July 2026 reports.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

  1. 2025 A University of Washington Center for Human Rights report on Flock networks in the state said as many as 80 public agencies in Washington reportedly use Flock, and examined how agencies share the data, including with federal agencies. (University of Washington Center for Human Rights, Oct. 21, 2025)
  2. Feb. 4, 2026 The state Senate passed Senate Bill 6002, sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma), 40-9. At that stage the bill required plate-reader data to be deleted within 21 days unless needed as evidence (a Senate committee had lengthened this from 72 hours), largely barred sharing, banned use for civil immigration enforcement and kept the data out of public records requests, apart from use in research. (Washington State Standard / KUOW, Feb. 5, 2026)
  3. March 2026 The state House passed SB 6002 84-10 in early March 2026. The House version added gross misdemeanors to the permitted investigative uses, and the bill returned to the Senate for concurrence. (Washington State Standard, March 6, 2026)
  4. March 30, 2026 Gov. Bob Ferguson signed SB 6002 on March 30, 2026, and it took effect at once. Police may now run plate searches only for felony or gross-misdemeanor cases, stolen cars, cars linked to people with arrest warrants, and missing or endangered people (with exceptions). Reads must be purged after 21 days unless kept as evidence, and they can be shared only for court cases. The law forbids using the readers for immigration enforcement or to monitor protected activity such as speech. It forbids collecting data near protected health care or immigration sites, schools, courts, food banks and houses of worship. Agencies must log who accessed the data and keep those logs for two years, and the data is closed to public records requests except for research. (Washington State Standard / KUOW, March 31, 2026)
  5. March 30, 2026 SB 6002 directs the Attorney General's Office to develop model plate-reader policies by July 1, 2027. Agencies must adopt them by December 2027. (Washington State Standard / KUOW, March 31, 2026; Washington State Standard, March 6, 2026)
  6. March 30, 2026 Flock Safety said it was already complying with parts of the law, such as purging data after 21 days. (Washington State Standard / KUOW, March 31, 2026)