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License-plate readers · Yakima County

Yakima County

Using license-plate readers · 2 agencies documented

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Yakima Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
87
87 fixed Flock cameras within city limits, per the Yakima Herald-Republic (Dec. 2025 and June 2026).
Contract
Flock Safety: $270,000 year · Approximate annual cost for cameras and software across five separate agreements, per the Yakima Herald-Republic; about $285,000 from the general fund was budgeted for Flock in 2026. (Yakima Herald-Republic, June 10, 2026)
Contract
Flock Safety: $250,000 · from June 2026 · approved by Yakima City Council · Consolidated renewal; the editorial describes it as $250,000 and does not state the term. (Yakima Herald-Republic (editorial), June 2026)
  1. 2021 The city first bought 22 Flock cameras. (Yakima Herald-Republic, Dec. 19, 2025)
  2. June 2026 Police reported moving three fixed cameras and stopping six mobile cameras to meet the new law's location limits, cutting retention to 21 days from 30, and ending direct system access for out-of-state agencies. (Yakima Herald-Republic, June 10, 2026)
  3. June 2026 The city council renewed the Flock contract. A first vote tied 3-3 with Rick Glenn absent (Juliet Potrykus, Reedy Berg and Patricia Byers in favor; Matt Brown and Leo Roy against); on a second vote Brown and Roy changed to yes and Felisa Gonzalez was the only member opposed. (Yakima Herald-Republic (editorial), June 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The renewal was expected at the June 16, 2026 council meeting per the Herald-Republic's June 10 story; the editorial reporting the vote does not give the date, so the month is used.
  • Before the renewal, an agreement covering 22 of the 87 cameras (about $67,000) was set to expire June 16, 2026.
  • A Dec. 2025 department report put annual operating cost at about $234,900 for 87 cameras.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Yakima County Sheriff's Office

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
59
59 cameras, per the Yakima Herald-Republic (Dec. 2025).
Contract
Flock Safety: $147,500 year · Approximate annual operating cost for 59 cameras, per the Yakima Herald-Republic. (Yakima Herald-Republic, Dec. 19, 2025)
  1. Dec. 2025 The sheriff's office said it now limits outside access to its camera data to Washington agencies, reviewed case by case. (Yakima Herald-Republic, Dec. 19, 2025)
  2. April 2026 County officials described plans for about 300 more Flock cameras countywide, with the county's original investment paid from ARPA funds and cities covering annual licensing; Commissioner LaDon Linde said the county intends to keep and expand the cameras as funding allows. (KNDO/KNDU NonStop Local, April 7, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The 300-camera figure is a plan described in April 2026; no approval vote was reported in the source.

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)