Renton suspends Flock cameras again after public outcry

Published 9:10 am Tuesday, May 12, 2026

The city of Renton will “put a pause on” the use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras in the city.

After numerous public comments at the May 4 Renton City Council meeting in opposition of Flock safety cameras, the council voted, in a plit decision, to pause the police department’s use of the cameras until the council members could “get more information to address the concerns of the public” on the technology. Councilmember Carmen Rivera proposed the pause.

“I’ve been a fan of the Big Brother. Anything that helps as a tool for law enforcement that can help minimize conflict or a use of force, I think is always a benefit,” Rivera said. “I’ve also talked to a couple people in the cybersecurity sector in that same regard, around how easy it is to access these data points, the lack of the ability to actually sanitize the information.”

The Renton Police Department suspended all use of its ALPR cameras in March to make sure they complied with strict new statewide privacy regulations under Senate Bill 6002. The cameras were turned back on in April.

Councilmember Kim-Khánh Văn said she did not like how quickly the cameras were reactivated.

“I wanted to have more thoughtful conversations surrounding the data,” Văn said. “I prefer that the Flock cameras be shut down, but pausing is a term I’m okay with at this point in time. I think the risk here is way more than the benefit from our communities of immigrants and refugees.”

Councilmember Ryan McIrvin said he does think the cameras have value, but would like to know if there are other providers outside of Flock, with the contract being up for renewal.

“I do think they can help prevent violent and dangerous crimes,” McIrvin said. “I do agree there are questions on it and if we need to take a pause to put better guardrails to ensure them … We would want to make sure whoever else has access to that data, that we have security on it. I also understand that having a broader network helps it be more effective, like that’s part of the reason that it works.”

Councilmember James Alberson, chair of the public safety committee, voted against the pause on ALPR camera use. He said after the cameras were reactivated, a man was found on Rainier Avenue with a gunshot to the head and the cameras helped police find the vehicle in the active investigation.

“There are always going to be bad actors out there. We cannot make decisions based on a bad actor, or five bad actors. ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few,’” Alberson said. “The fact of the matter is it has been way too helpful for the Renton Police Department and the public in my opinion to throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Rivera, who is also an assistant teaching professor on criminal justice, criminology and forensics at Seattle University, said there is no conclusive data on Flock’s effectiveness on violent crime, but the cameras do have an impact on property crime and missing children.

“For me, I have to think ethically about the balance,” Rivera said. “With that, the other thing that pauses for me is shutting off our cameras and the possible risk of losing this investigative tool when it comes to, in my worst case scenario, a missing children’s case. Does that outweigh the possibility, because these are both possibilities and theoreticals here, the possibility of this tool being used to hunt down immigrant children? That is a really uncomfortable conversation we have to have, right?”

Council President Ruth Pérez said her struggle is emotional, rather than rational.

“How can we ask them to trust us with these tools instead of imposing them when their fear is very real?” Pérez said. “It’s not just because of what they have heard about the use of this, it’s what they have experienced, a lot of them in their own home countries, because we live in a city that is full of immigrants with different backgrounds and with different cultures.”

Renton Police Investigations Commander Susan Hassinger said they are using Flock right now for “violent felony crime,” but that they can use the technology for gross misdemeanors, per the new state law.

“Immigration is not anything at all per policy that we share information on or we would even do a search on,” Hassinger said.

The Renton police can only do a vehicle search in Flock, not a person search. The police must be searching for a specific vehicle to get the information collected by the cameras, and there is a 21-day retention period on that information. Hassinger said they have used this data for “some very high-profile cases,” including multiple homicides.

“There are many cases, had we not had that information, we wouldn’t have a place to look for additional evidence,” Hassinger said.

A big concern for many in the community is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) being given access to the data to find immigrants. Hassinger said outside requests have to go through supervisor approval. Other cities that use Flock have access to the shared information from the cameras.

“We have a very, very clear policy that we’re not sharing any information whatsoever with ICE,” Hassinger said. “In addition to that, it would have to meet the standard” for a felony crime or a gross misdemeanor crime before that information is released.

In a roll call vote, Councilmembers Pérez, McIrvin, Rivera and Văn voted in favor of a pause, while council members Alberson, Ed Prince and Valerie O’Halloran voted against the motion. Renton Police public information officer Stephanie Hynes said the deputy chief told the department all ALPR systems have been paused after the council meeting.