Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record

cj

URL is 404'ing. Another article.. > Cameras that automatically capture images of vehicle license plates are being turned off by police in jurisdictions across Washington state, in part after a court ruled the public has a right to access data generated by the technology. https://www.geekwire.com/2025/washington-state-cities-turn-o...

altairprime

The above link 404's for me, but https://www.wltx.com/article/news/nation-world/281-53d8693e-... works.

dzink

The link is broken. Here is a working one. https://www.king5.com/article/news/community/facing-race/was...

fuzzfactor

This appears to be an informative link; https://www.everettpost.com/local-news/everett-temporarily-s...

GiorgioG

Great now let’s follow suit in all 50 states.

SlightlyLeftPad

Does them removing it simply because it’s public record imply that they were up to no good?

1123581321

This is a good article about some of the legal particulars. https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/02/24/snohomish-county-judge-... The defense of the photos not being government business until accessed seems shaky. That the physical camera installations were purposeful intentions to conduct government business in those areas is a reasonable line; this doesn't set precedent for Google's information becoming public records because the police might do a google search, to use an extreme example. The proposed legislative amendment that would exclude Flock footage from public records (which would make this judgment moot) makes sense in the light of red light cameras already being excluded by the same legislators. However, I'd like to see a more incisive law covering both that would compel a reasonable amount of public insight into the footage.

hyperific

According to the article, the Flock cameras are still in place but are "offline". Why does that not convince me?

chkaloon

Awesome. I think I'll put in an open records request for the cameras down the street in my little Wisconsin town. See what happens

N_Lens

"The masses/general populace are the enemy" - once you understand that this is the fundamental belief at the root of the elites behaviour, everything will make sense. Flock cameras and AI surveillance is designed to reign in 'the enemy'.