SKAGIT COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A pair of cities in Skagit County have ended their use of technology to help police investigate potential crimes.
The Sedro-Woolley City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday, Sept. 23, to end the use of automated license plate reader systems called Flock Safety cameras.
Police Chief Dan McIlraith told the council that the city’s intentions are in the right place, but the political climate around the cameras is too strong.
“We are using the system correctly. We are following all the laws,” McIlraith said. “We’re using it for reasons, not to track people, but to solve crimes. So we have to have a case number, it has to be a gross misdemeanor or more for a crime or missing persons, those kinds of things. So, we’re doing all the right things, it’s just, right now it’s time to move on.”
Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon each entered agreements with Flock Safety in November 2024 to install cameras in both cities.
McIlraith says Sedro-Woolley has only had the cameras on for about six months over the contract after being shut off and turned back on. He attributes the light usage to an influx of public records requests requirements, along with a new state law requiring increased regulation over the use of Flock cameras.
“The climate around ALPR cameras is just really huge and it’s hard to fight,” McIlraith said. “When we first got Flock, the network was very large, a lot of agencies had that. That has diminished so it also diminishes our ability to solve crimes with it.”
Mount Vernon also decided to turn their Flock cameras off in June.
Flock cameras have come under increased scrutiny over the past year, particularly following a University of Washington study that found at least eight Washington state law enforcement agencies had shared their data with U.S. Border Patrol in 2025. None of those eight agencies were in Whatcom or Skagit counties.
My Bellingham Now previously reported that Bellingham has several privately-owned Flock cameras and police officers have not used them outside of pursuing criminal cases, including ICE requests.
