SHELTON, Wash. — An audit of the Shelton Police Department’s automated license plate reader network found hundreds of searches by outside agencies with connections to immigration enforcement under the department’s former nationwide-sharing settings.
Shelton police said the department reviewed about 2.67 million network audit entries covering April 2025 through July 28, 2026. The department said none of the immigration-related searches were attributed to Shelton police personnel.
The review identified 943 outside-agency searches with what the department called a “strong immigration-related connection.” Search reasons referenced ICE, deportation, immigration enforcement, Border Patrol, or human smuggling.
Another 1,952 entries referenced Homeland Security Investigations or an immigration-enforcement agency, though police said the audit information alone did not establish whether those searches were related to immigration enforcement or another type of federal investigation.
All of the immigration-related entries identified in the review occurred between April and October 2025, when Shelton’s Flock license plate reader network operated under its former nationwide-sharing settings.
Police cautioned that an audit entry does not mean a Shelton camera captured the vehicle that was being searched for. It also does not establish that Shelton returned data to the outside agency or that someone viewed an image from a Shelton camera.
The audit also identified outside-agency searches with vague or inadequate justifications, searches for testing or training, and a smaller number containing protest, political, abortion-related, or other sensitive language.
Shelton police said the department eliminated access for all out-of-state agencies in fall 2025 and limited access to authorized Washington law enforcement agencies for approved purposes.
Under the department’s current safeguards, Flock data cannot be used for federal immigration enforcement, and using the technology to monitor constitutionally protected activity, protected health care activity, immigration status, or other prohibited purposes is forbidden.
A separate review of 74,697 network audit entries from Jan. 1 through July 28, 2026 found no immigration-related entries and no access by agencies outside Washington, the department said. The review did find 193 testing, training, or demonstration entries and 16 entries with vague or generic justifications, including three with blank reason fields.
Police said those entries do not establish misconduct but will remain subject to administrative oversight.
The department said ordinary automated license plate reader data is automatically deleted after 21 days unless it is lawfully preserved as evidence or under another authorized legal exception.
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