DeFlock Renton

News

Current Status

Cameras off/paused and covered.

Flock Camera covered with a plastic bag.
Flock Camera covered with a plastic bag.

Events (Top = Most Recent)

  • September 14 — No motions related to Flock/ALPRs
  • August 27 — RPD held a “community briefing” over Zoom (not a town hall, as originally planned) regarding ALPRs. Since the community was not given the opportunity for dialogue, we held our own event with 4 A Better Renton and ACLU of WA.
    See ACLU of WA’s speech (Facebook link)
  • August 24, August 31, and September 7 — City Council had a three-week recess
  • August 21 — Many cameras across Renton confirmed to be covered (see pictures above)
  • August 17 — Rally outside City Hall from 5-7:00 PM
    See the news coverage
  • August 11, 2026 — The Equity Commission voted not to withdrawal their letter of support for ALPRs, which was requested by RPD in June 2026. Commissioner Dominic Williams made a motion to withdrawal their support for ALPRs, seconded by Commissioner Ali Cohen, but the motion failed to pass.
  • August 10, 2026
    • A motion failed to pass to not renew Renton’s contract with Flock. Councilmember (CM) Kim-Khánh Văn made the motion, seconded by CM Carmen Rivera. CMs Ryan McIrvin, Ed Prince, Valerie O’Halloran, and James Alberson, Jr. opposed the motion.
    • A motion failed to pass to turn all the cameras back on. Initially, the vote was 3-3 with the Mayor abstaining to avoid breaking a tie. CM Prince changed his vote to turn the tie into a failing 2-4 vote.
  • August 3, 2026 — A motion was passed to physically cover the Flock cameras and direct the administration to host a town hall about ALPRs.
  • July 20, 2026 — A motion was passed to continue the pause on Flock cameras, but to un-pause the ALPRs in law enforcement and parking enforcement vehicles. Another motion was passed to commit Renton to a third-party audit of ALPR data/searches.
  • July 6, 2026 — A motion to un-pause failed. Instead, council voted to require all members to complete Flock/RPD-provided training before revisiting the motion.
  • June 2026 — Equity Commission approved a letter of support for ALPRs at the request of RPD.
  • May 4, 2026 — Council voted 4–3 to pause again, following heavy public opposition.
  • April 21, 2026 — Cameras silently reactivated without public notice or a city council meeting.
  • March 31, 2026 — Renton paused all ALPRs (including Flock Safety roadway, Axon in-car, and Genetec parking enforcement cameras) to ensure compliance with SB 6002.