Radar to detect speeders, electronic bracelets to monitor potential reoffenders, Tasers to neutralize violence.
And now, at a time when federal immigration forces routinely exceed traditional law-enforcement boundaries for transparency and respect for individual rights, we have all-seeing Flock cameras. Wireless devices that can read license plates and detect the color, make and model of vehicles, as well as track each vehicle’s location nearly instantly.
The cameras are an inarguably useful tool for tracking down fugitives, monitoring suspicious activities or keeping track of unhinged domestic violence perpetrators. Used responsibly and ethically, they could keep us all safer.
Still, more than 500 Yakima-area people have signed an online petition calling on the city’s police department to turn off their Flock cameras until they can better assure the public that protocols are in place to safeguard the community.
Brian Korst of Terrace Heights presented the petition to the Yakima City Council on Tuesday.
The council took no action, but City Manager Vicki Baker told the YH-R that she and other city officials, including Police Chief Shawn Boyle, are discussing what to do next.
That’s wise and perhaps overdue.
Flock cameras arrived in Yakima in 2021, when the Yakima Police Department bought 22 of them, and they’re now in use by law enforcement agencies, including the sheriff’s office, around the county.
But until a few weeks ago, following a Skagit County court ruling, Flock data wasn’t necessarily available to the public. The judge, though, ruled that it should be.
That suggests that anyone — from ICE to your daughter’s distraught ex-husband— could seek access to the data under the state’s Public Records Act.
“When this information becomes available to the public, it creates a serious risk,” Korst told the council Tuesday. “People can be tracked, profiled, harassed and sensitive trips to places like clinics or shelters can be exposed. This goes far beyond what Yakima residents ever agreed to.”
Korst’s concerns aren’t just hypothetical. Starting at the national level, privacy worries have risen significantly in the past year, and faith in law enforcement has been tested.
How could it not be? When guys in masks start violently hauling people away without warrants — and even refusing to identify themselves or answer any basic questions — fear and distrust inevitably creep in.
Regionally, those misgivings spiked after the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights reported that ICE and Customs and Border Protection had accessed Flock data of least multiple police agencies across the state, including the Yakima and Sunnyside police departments and the Yakima County Sheriff's Office.
Local authorities say they didn’t willingly or knowingly share Flock information with ICE — that would be against state law. UW has stood by its report.
In a Wednesday interview with the YH-R's Olivia Palmer, Chief Boyle acknowledged community concerns, and said his department is "doing the best we can to make sure that we're in our organization adhering to the rules that are set forth."
Nonetheless, the debate over Flock cameras will likely be with us for a while, and we doubt this’ll be the last court case involving their use.
In the meantime, it would be rash to immediately pull the plug on them.
We suggest keeping the cameras rolling, but wasting no time in establishing even more transparent ground rules. As suggested at Tuesday’s meeting, a citizen-led advisory board might be an appropriate oversight option.
Above all, the public has every right to expect and demand that taxpayer-funded law officers at all levels — including in the highest echelons of the federal government — respect citizens’ privacy and follow laws.
© 2025 Yakima Herald-Republic (Yakima, Wash.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
