RENTON, Wash. — Twenty-four Flock cameras were installed throughout Renton in 2024, and Renton City Council confirmed at its October 26th meeting that Nov. 2 marked the end of the Renton Police Department’s contract with the camera operators and that the cameras would be removed.
“Flock is not a safe company to be working with in this moment in time,” said Councilmember Carmen Rivera.
Councilmember Rivera doesn’t believe Flock has earned the trust of the public, and she says it’s disappointing that data was not collected from Flock cameras when they were fully operational in Renton.
“If you can’t show me the effectiveness, then you can show me the cost benefit. And if you can’t show me the cost benefits, then it’s not fiscally responsible for me to keep funding those,” said Councilmember Rivera.
She credited Renton residents who have shown up to Renton City Council meetings to voice their concerns about ALPRs.
“I’m really proud of just how our community has come together with this,” said Brian Hughes of DeFlock Renton. “Like, this is for a lot of us, like myself; this is my first time really getting involved with local government and really taking time to research at such a deep level.”
Sheryl Friesz with For a Better Renton says she’s surprised it took the city as long as it did to end its contract, and she believes more needs to be done.
“So we want to know that not only did they not renew the contract on November 2nd, but they are not reconsidering modifying the existing contract and doing anything in the future. We want to know it is 100% dead, buried, gone,” said Friesz.