Renton, Wash., has about two dozen Flock Safety license plate cameras covered in black plastic and switched off since the City Council voted 4-3 in May to pause them. The two-year, nearly $170,000 contract behind them was set to end Nov. 2, KUOW reported on Oct. 16, and if the council took no action the cameras would be taken down.
I found no record of the council voting to renew it. Police Chief Jon Schuldt told KUOW that Flock has helped identify suspects in drive-by shootings, child sex crimes and homicides, including a triple murder, and that any new deal would have to be renegotiated to fit Washington’s new law. Councilmember Carmen Rivera, who voted against turning the cameras back on, is skeptical of Flock but trusts Renton’s police, KUOW reported.
Months of pauses, no verdict
The department stopped using its plate readers after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 6002, the Driver Privacy Act, on March 30. Schuldt told the council on April 6 that Renton had ‘put a pause on all of our ALPR usage,’ the Kent Reporter reported, and that one Flock camera’s view touched a protected area and would have to be moved. KUOW reported that the cameras came back on in April and went dark again after the May vote. Renton’s ALPR page lists 24 Flock Falcon cameras at major intersections and roads…