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The Mountlake Terrace City Council voted 5-2 Thursday to approve installation of the Flock Safety license plate recognition camera system in the city.
Thursday’s meeting was extended to 11 p.m. after 14 people signed up to speak for or against the camera system. The comment time for each speaker was reduced from 5 minutes to 3 minutes due to the high number of sign-ups.
The ultimate question this meeting seemed to be: Who do you fear more, criminals or the federal government?
System proponents pointed to its potential to assist in locating missing children (Amber Alerts) and seniors (Silver Alerts), as well as potentially reducing violent crime.
Cmdr. Scott King said the system will include nine cameras strategically placed in key locations. To address privacy concerns about the system, King added that a transparency portal will be made available to the public.
A transparency portal is a webpage supplied by Flock Safety to show statistics such as department policy regarding the system, the number of cameras used and how many plates were scanned.
The page will also display how many searches were conducted and hot list hits, which are triggered when a license plate listed by law enforcement is found.
An example of a transparency portal can be found at the Arlington Police Department here.
David Mercer, a Mountlake Terrace resident since 1977, said he contacted Lakewood City Manager John Caulfield – also a former MLT city manager – and was told that Lakewood’s crime rate has decreased since the Flock system was installed. Further, Mercer said that a friend was the victim of a home invasion robbery during which a pistol was held to their children’s heads. The thieves stole the victim’s car, and it took weeks to find the suspects. However, if a license plate recognition system had been available, the suspects could have been caught before they left town, Mercer said.
Councilmember Rick Ryan said he had researched the cities and tribes that are using Flock and found it to be effective.
“Between 2022 and 2023, in Mountlake Terrace, we had an increase of 86.4% in stolen cars,” Ryan said.
If a family can only afford a single car, and that car gets stolen, they would be without transportation, Ryan explained. Such a situation could be devastating to a family relying on one vehicle, especially if it takes a long time to recover it – if it’s recovered at all.
“How do they get their groceries and do errands?” Ryan said.
The councilmembers had reviewed and discussed the Flock system on March 27 and May 15, and at Thursday’s meeting it still came down to the question of trust. The consensus among the council and the public alike was that they trust the Mountlake Terrace police.
Where opinions differed was at the federal level.
Laura Winkler said that the state of the U.S. reminds her of 1930s Germany and she is afraid cities and states will be forced to comply with a racist agenda.
“We have a fascist government now that cannot be trusted,” Winkler said.
Some speakers feared that the Flock Safety system could be a potential observation tool and would be accessible to anyone, either directly as a subscriber or indirectly through another agency, thus being accessible by ICE or other federal agencies.
George Stanton expressed concern about Flock Nova, which he explained is designed to track individuals. Furthermore, he stated that Flock Safety data has been shared with ICE more than 4,000 times, a claim confirmed by multiple news sources.
“Once a database like this has been built, you cannot go back,” Stanton said.
Alvaro Guillen spoke on behalf of foreign residents in the city. He explained that even documented permanent residents are living in fear.
“If we go tomorrow to a peaceful protest, people around you will tell you to turn off your phones out of fear of law enforcement seizing your phones,” Guillen said. “I’m not talking about [undocumented] immigrants who are already living in greater fear, I’m talking about U.S. citizens, like myself, who have to carry a copy of their passport all the time.”
“This sounds a little like 1984,” history teacher Blake Severns said, referring to George Orwell’s book.
Severns said that people are already tracked through their phones and smart devices. He cited the city’s traffic report presented during the May 22 council meeting as an example: The data was collected through smart devices.
“The difference is, this is by choice,” Severns said, holding up his smartphone. “I can turn it off.”
After two hours and 12 minutes, a vote was taken, with Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright, Mayor Pro Tem Bryan Wahl, and Councilmembers Rick Ryan, William Paige Jr., and Laura Sonmore voting in favor of the system. Councilmembers Erin Murray and Steve Woodard voted against it.
Flock Safety provided an overview, an FAQ list, a privacy statement and a presentation.
The entire Flock Safety discussion can be seen here.
Unless you were in the Council Chambers on Thursday evening or read an article later, you would not know how Council Members voted, because it was a voice vote. It should have been a roll call vote. Hopefully, the meeting minutes will reflect how each individual voted.
Way to go MLT this will keep the criminals and rift raft to a minimum !!!! Keep up the good work !!