DeFlock Renton

Learn More

Start with the national picture: the ACLU’s Get the Flock Out campaign lays out the general case against ALPR networks like Flock Safety’s. Below is what’s specific to Renton.

(We are not affiliated with the ACLU, but ACLU WA wrote a letter to the Renton City Council in July 2026 opposing Renton’s ALPR system.)

Does Renton use Flock/ALPR?

Yes. Renton Police Department uses three automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems:

  • Flock Falcon — fixed cameras, which the city says are placed only on state highways
  • Axon — in-car ALPRs
  • Genetec — ALPRs in parking enforcement vehicles

Who is affected?

Every car that passes one of these cameras is part of a national network processing over 20 billion plate reads per month across 49 states and thousands of connected law enforcement agencies. You don’t need to be a suspect, or ever be investigated for anything, to end up in this database.

What if I don’t mind having my picture taken?

A single photo of your license plate isn’t the concern. The concern is what happens after the photo:

  • It’s not one photo, it’s a searchable database of your movements. Every camera you pass gets logged with a timestamp and location. String enough of those together and you get a record of where someone goes, how often, and when. Renton’s own numbers illustrate the scale: officers manually reviewed just 461 photos, but in an 11-day window, the cameras captured and stored about 5.2 million images.
  • It doesn’t stay local. Renton’s data is retained for at least 21 days and is shared across a regional network — Auburn, Des Moines, Enumclaw, Tukwila, Port of Seattle, Mill Creek, and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office all have access, plus Flock Safety itself. A documented case (via UW Center for Human Rights, from Renton’s own audit logs) shows U.S. Border Patrol accessed Renton’s data in June 2025, which Renton hadn’t authorized.
  • You don’t get to consent, opt out, or find out who looked you up. There’s no way to know if your movements were pulled in a search, for what reason, or by which of the dozens of agencies with access. The audit trail exists, but it isn’t public, and in Renton’s case, it’s reviewed by the police department itself, not by an independent body.
  • The data is only as secure as the system holding it. The internet is full of “How to Hack Flock” videos. In some cases, they don’t even need a ladder, just Wi-Fi.
  • Once the infrastructure exists, its use tends to expand. The cameras aren’t just reading plates: Flock’s AI also builds a “vehicle fingerprint” that can identify a car without ever reading the plate at all, and can flag travel patterns. Today there are rules that limit the data’s use, but those rules could change tomorrow. If you want to know how Flock wants to use your data, you don’t need to look further than the Flock Safety marketing materials.

This doesn’t happen in Renton, though. Right?

Wrong. A University of Washington Center for Human Rights investigation (“Leaving the Door Wide Open,” Oct. 2025) found that Renton’s own Flock audit logs show U.S. Border Patrol searched Renton’s ALPR data twice on June 23, 2025, and that Renton had not explicitly authorized that access. Renton was one of at least 17 Washington agencies where Border Patrol accessed local ALPR data, in some cases without the local department’s knowledge.

An unnamed Flock employee queried Renton’s ALPR data once on February 25, 2026, twice on March 23, 2026, and once again on March 23, 2026.

Don’t we need these cameras?

No. In eight months of public debate, the City and RPD have never produced evidence that these cameras work. Not a clearance rate. Not a before-and-after comparison. Not a single case count.

In 2025 crime in Renton dropped significantly in most categories. Advocates for the cameras would like you to believe that this was because Flock cameras were switched on for that entire year, but there is almost no data available to support that case.

In particular, they like to claim that Flock is necessary and useful for policing vehicle theft, but the data that exists paints a very muddy picture:

  • Motor vehicle theft in Renton has fallen every year since 2023.
  • It was down 36% in 2024, before these cameras were installed.
  • It was down 43% in 2025, with the cameras on.
  • Down about a third so far this year, with the cameras dark since May.

This is their strongest case for the cameras: our consistently declining vehicle theft declines slightly faster while the cameras on?

One claim that has been made is that the Flock cameras in Renton resulted in a 25% increase in stolen vehicle recoveries. The largest independent analysis on this technology (Mourtgos and Adams, published August 2026, 216 agencies) measured recovery directly and found no improvement. Flock loves sharing part of this paper (11% drop in vehicle theft) but they are not so eager to support claims that vehicle recoveries are improved.

There is no data showing Renton needed a drastic increase in surveillance, and no data showing what that surveillance bought us.

Why did The City Council approve of this?

They didn’t. The initial rollout had no public review or council vote.

Where do things stand in Renton right now?

This is changing regularly, see News for up-to-date info.

Have other cities been successful at removing AI-powered ALPR cameras?

In Washington State alone, efforts by DeFlock Redmond, DeFlock Lynnwood, DeFlock Olympia, and communities in Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, and Sedro-Woolley have been successful.

DeFlock Everett is actively working to suspend their city’s ALPR program, too.

Across the country, over 30 cities in multiple states have been successful at suspending their city’s ALPR program or terminating their city’s ALPR contracts altogether.

What can I do?

See our Take Action page.

Where else can I learn more information?

How ALPRs work (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
How Flock cameras are easily hacked (Benn Jordan on YouTube)
Flock camera locations across the country (DeFlock)
How Flock ignores laws (Forbes)
How Flock fails to decrease crime (Forbes)
ALPRs are ineffective (Berkeley Police Accountability Board)
How Flock employees access local ALPR data (Benn Jordan on YouTube)
Surveillance abuses in 2025 (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Full ALPR abuse library (Kansas Watch)
How ALPRs make mistakes (CNET)
Concerns around Flock’s Terms & Conditions (ACLU)
Concerns around Axon’s ethics (Policing Project)
Concerns that Axon meddled in local elections (ABC)