SIGNALDATAInsights. For the People.
Preview
License-plate readers · King County

King County

Using license-plate readers · 8 agencies documented

← Statewide map
Adams CountyAsotin CountyBenton CountyChelan CountyClallam CountyClark CountyColumbia CountyCowlitz CountyDouglas CountyFerry CountyFranklin CountyGarfield CountyGrant CountyGrays Harbor CountyIsland CountyJefferson CountyKing CountyKitsap CountyKittitas CountyKlickitat CountyLewis CountyLincoln CountyMason CountyOkanogan CountyPacific CountyPend Oreille CountyPierce CountySan Juan CountySkagit CountySkamania CountySnohomish CountySpokane CountyStevens CountyThurston CountyWahkiakum CountyWalla Walla CountyWhatcom CountyWhitman CountyYakima County

Seattle Police Department

Status
Use suspended
Vendors
Axon, Genetec
Contract
Genetec: $80,445.33 year · 2024 maintenance and licensing cost for parking-enforcement ALPR (includes $12,545.77 in spare parts), per the Office of Inspector General audit. Route1 resells the Genetec hardware and software. (Seattle Office of Inspector General, Sept. 30, 2025)
  1. 2021 Ordinance 126312 approved ALPR on 8 SPD patrol vehicles, according to a later city surveillance document. (City of Seattle, date not shown)
  2. 2024 A city surveillance-update document proposed turning on ALPR in every SPD vehicle with in-car video and moving the back-office system from Neology PIPS to Axon Fleet Hub, with reads kept 90 days. Councilmember Bob Kettle later said the patrol ALPR use began in 2024. (City of Seattle, date not shown; South Seattle Emerald, April 1, 2026)
  3. Sept. 30, 2025 The Office of Inspector General released its 2024 audit of parking-enforcement ALPR. Fifteen parking-enforcement vehicles carried ALPR as of January 2025. About 92% of accepted hits related to parking enforcement and about 8% to hotlist vehicles. The only data-sharing request in 2024 came from the OIG. (Seattle Office of Inspector General, Sept. 30, 2025)
  4. March 20, 2026 Chief Shon Barnes issued a directive suspending all SPD plate-reader use, including for parking enforcement, ahead of SB 6002. As of early April, SPD had no set date to bring the technology back to patrol or parking vehicles. (KUOW, April 3, 2026)
  5. March 31, 2026 The City Council voted 8-0 for Ordinance 127044, sponsored by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck (Councilmember Maritza Rivera was excused). It requires a 60-day pause on data collection by SPD's patrol-vehicle ALPR and the city's CCTV cameras if the mayor or police chief believes the data is being used for civil immigration enforcement or threatens access to reproductive or gender-affirming care. (South Seattle Emerald, April 1, 2026; KUOW, April 3, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Patrol ALPR runs on Axon software that reads plates from dashcam video. Parking enforcement uses Genetec cameras and software.
  • Retention under SPD policy was 90 days for patrol ALPR data per the city's surveillance document. The OIG reported that parking-enforcement reads were deleted after 24 hours unless tied to hits.
  • No source found showing SPD resumed ALPR after the March 20, 2026 suspension.

From agency records.

King County Sheriff's Office

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
  1. June 2025 The Urbanist reported that the sheriff's office uses Flock cameras in some of the cities that contract with it for policing, including SeaTac, Covington and Newcastle, but not in unincorporated King County. (The Urbanist, June 19, 2025)
  2. Aug. 2026 KIRO 7 listed SeaTac and Covington, both sheriff's-office contract cities, among cities using Flock. (KIRO 7, Aug. 17, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Camera counts, contracts and the sheriff's office's response to SB 6002 were not found. The cameras are tied to the contract cities, not to countywide deployment.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Kent Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety, Axon
Cameras
20
20 fixed Flock cameras, per the Kent Reporter (Feb. 2025).
Contract
Flock Safety: $73,767 year · from Jan. 2023 · First-year (2023) cost. A $32,000 Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority grant covered part of it. (Kent Reporter, Feb. 21, 2025)
Contract
Flock Safety: about $77,000 year · from Feb. 18, 2025 · approved by Kent City Council · Renewal covering cameras, hardware and software; it rolls over yearly unless either side ends it. Paid with revenue from the city's red-light camera program. (Kent Reporter, Feb. 21, 2025)
  1. Jan. 2023 Kent police began using Flock cameras; the 2025 renewal covered 20 cameras. (Kent Reporter, Feb. 21, 2025)
  2. Feb. 18, 2025 The City Council unanimously renewed the Flock contract at about $77,000 a year. (Kent Reporter, Feb. 21, 2025)
  3. April 2026 Following SB 6002, Kent suspended its Axon mobile plate readers. It kept its fixed Flock cameras on after confirming none capture plates near restricted locations. (KUOW, April 3, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The KUOW report on the suspension of the mobile readers was published April 3, 2026, and gives no exact date for it.

From agency records.

Renton Police Department

Status
Use suspended
Vendors
Flock Safety, Axon, Genetec
Cameras
24
24 Flock Falcon fixed cameras, per the City of Renton ALPR page and MyNorthwest/KIRO 7. Axon in-car and Genetec parking-enforcement units are not counted.
  1. Dec. 2024 Renton added 24 Flock fixed cameras. (MyNorthwest / KIRO 7, April 7, 2026)
  2. March 31, 2026 Renton police shut off the Flock cameras to comply with SB 6002. (MyNorthwest / KIRO 7, April 7, 2026)
  3. April 2026 Renton's Flock cameras were back in use by late April 2026 under the new law; the city did not publish a restart date. City figures for April 22 to May 7: about 5.27 million images, 390 searches and 71 alerts, with data purged after 21 days and shared only with Washington agencies the law allows. (City of Renton, date not shown)
  4. May 4, 2026 The City Council voted 4-3 to pause all of the city's ALPR systems. (City of Renton, date not shown; KOMO News, Aug. 11, 2026)
  5. July 22, 2026 The council unanimously voted to keep the Flock cameras paused while the city reviews its Flock contract and to unpause the in-car ALPR in police (Axon) and parking-enforcement (Genetec) vehicles. Councilmember Carmen Rivera sponsored the motion. A second motion directed the administration to look into a third-party audit of all of the city's ALPR systems. Police said the in-car systems would stay off until they could automatically exclude restricted areas. (Kent Reporter, July 23, 2026)
  6. Aug. 2026 A proposal to pause Renton's Flock contract was postponed to a council meeting the following week. (KOMO News, Aug. 11, 2026)
  7. Aug. 2026 KIRO 7 listed Renton among cities not using Flock. (KIRO 7, Aug. 17, 2026)
  8. Aug. 3, 2026 The council voted to cover all Flock cameras in the city until they are removed or the contract is renewed. All members except Councilmember James Alberson voted yes. A separate unanimous motion called for a public town hall on the cameras. (Kent Reporter, Aug. 6, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Renton's transparency portal is transparency.flocksafety.com/renton-wa-pd. It could not be opened in this check.
  • Whether the council later voted to end the Flock contract was not confirmed. KIRO 7 listed Renton as not using Flock in August 2026.
  • The August postponement is dated by an Aug. 11, 2026 KOMO story that does not name the meeting.

From agency records.

Auburn Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
37
37 ALPR cameras citywide as of July 2026, per the Auburn Reporter. The department started with 20 in August 2024.
  1. Aug. 2024 Auburn police deployed 20 Flock plate-reader cameras around the city. (Kent Reporter / Auburn Reporter, Aug. 22, 2024)
  2. July 13, 2026 At a council study session, the City Council, Police Chief Mark Caillier and residents met with a Flock representative. (Auburn Reporter, July 22, 2026)
  3. July 20, 2026 At the council meeting, more than 15 residents spoke, most of them opposed to the cameras; the council took no action, and the chief said police would keep using them. As of July 22, Auburn's Flock portal showed 21-day retention and about 622,000 unique vehicles detected over 30 days. (Auburn Reporter, July 22, 2026)
  4. Aug. 2026 KIRO 7 listed Auburn among cities using Flock. (KIRO 7, Aug. 17, 2026)

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Federal Way Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
6
6 city Flock cameras after the October 2025 expansion (4 before), per the Federal Way Mirror. Eight SafeCity plate cameras were also linked to Flock and are not counted here.
Contract
Flock Safety: $23,800 first year · from Oct. 21, 2025 · approved by Federal Way City Council · Contract update for two added cameras near 320th Street and I-5. After the first year, recurring infrastructure costs are $23,000 a year. The update also gave Flock access to eight SafeCity plate cameras. (Federal Way Mirror, Oct. 31, 2025)
  1. 2025 Federal Way installed its first city-funded Flock system at SW 320th St. and 21st Avenue SW. (Federal Way Mirror, Oct. 31, 2025)
  2. Oct. 21, 2025 The City Council approved a Flock contract update adding two cameras, bringing the city's total to six. (Federal Way Mirror, Oct. 31, 2025)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The council vote tally was not reported. A separate HOA-owned Flock system in the Westridge neighborhood is not city-run.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Redmond Police Department

Status
Ended or removed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
About two dozen Flock cameras, per The Seattle Times (via Yakima Herald-Republic). No exact count published.
Contract
Flock Safety: about $146,000 spent to date · to June 2027 · Amount spent as of March 2026: about $95,000 from a Department of Commerce grant, about $44,000 from the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority and $7,500 from the general fund. The contract ran through early June 2027 before the council voted to terminate it. (KOMO News, March 4, 2026)
  1. 2025 Redmond began using about two dozen Flock cameras in the summer of 2025. (The Seattle Times / Yakima Herald-Republic, Nov. 18, 2025)
  2. Nov. 3, 2025 Following a City Council recommendation, police suspended the ALPR system and disabled access pending review. (City of Redmond, date not shown)
  3. Nov. 12, 2025 The City Council voted 5-0 to formally suspend the program. (City of Redmond, date not shown)
  4. July 21, 2026 The City Council voted 7-0 to terminate the Flock contract and end the plate-reader program; removal of the cameras is under way. (City of Redmond, date not shown)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The city said it disabled automatic data sharing with other agencies and required lawful process, such as a court order, for outside requests.
  • Whether the cameras have been physically removed was not confirmed.

From agency records.

Enumclaw Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
8
8 Flock cameras, live for about two months as of late August 2026, per FOX 13.
  1. June 2026 Enumclaw police brought eight Flock cameras online. FOX 13 reported on Aug. 27, 2026 that they had been live for about two months. (FOX 13 Seattle, Aug. 27, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The start month is estimated from FOX 13's Aug. 27, 2026 report that the cameras had been live about two months. No council record was found.

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)