Federal Way approves expansion of Flock Safety cameras

Cameras prompt concerns about sharing data with federal agencies.

By Keelin Everly-Lang • October 31, 2025 11:00 am
From the University of Washington report: “Across Washington state, a review of Flock audits by UWCHR researchers during 2025 revealed multiple forms of access to data on Washington state residents by federal immigration enforcement agencies and out-of-state law enforcement. The majority of agencies were exposed to one or more of these forms of access to their networks. The map does not depict all agencies surveyed or known to use Flock systems.”
From the University of Washington report: “Across Washington state, a review of Flock audits by UWCHR researchers during 2025 revealed multiple forms of access to data on Washington state residents by federal immigration enforcement agencies and out-of-state law enforcement. The majority of agencies were exposed to one or more of these forms of access to their networks. The map does not depict all agencies surveyed or known to use Flock systems.”

The Federal Way City Council approved an expansion of their contract with Flock Safety on Oct. 21, the same day a report from the University of Washington was released that found that Flock surveillance systems expose Washington data to immigration enforcement.

Flock Safety cameras and surveillance infrastructure have been in the headlines around the country both for the impact of their systems on crime response, and for data sharing concerns connected to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security.

Federal Way City Council has been working to increase the number of Flock cameras in the community, including a vote at the Oct. 21 council meeting to move forward with two new cameras with the company.

Council documents explain that Flock Safety “provides a system of cameras, license plate readers, and supporting infrastructure that assists law enforcement in identifying vehicles connected to a crime.”

Funding for the installation of the two additional cameras had already been approved by council. The Oct. 21 vote was to reflect that in the contract with Flock Safety and to provide provisions for Flock to have access to eight of the SafeCity license plate cameras in the city in order to process that data.

The new cameras will be near 320th Street and I-5, and are in addition to four the city already has, according to a presentation by Deputy Chief Casey Jones at the Oct. 14 Parks, Recreation, Human Services and Public Safety Committee meeting.

Jones said that with those first four, they’ve already “had some successes with them recovering stolen vehicles.”

It details how Flock Safety data from law enforcement agencies around the state has been accessed by U.S. Border Patrol through both “front door,” “back door” and “side door” pathways, including instances where agencies “did not explicitly authorize Border Patrol searches of their network data.”

Nearby Auburn was one of those cities, and specifically found that the U.S. Border Patrol gained direct access to their camera system without their knowledge.

“We want to state clearly: this access occurred unknowingly to us. The City of Auburn has not knowingly allowed, nor will we allow, direct access to our Flock system by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Border Patrol, or any other federal immigration enforcement agency,” the Auburn Police Department shared in a statement.

When the Federal Way Police Department was contacted about the findings of the report, Cmdr. Michael Coffey told the Mirror that “the Federal Way Police Department does not authorize or permit access to Flock camera data by ICE or U.S. Border Patrol.”

Coffey also stated that “the City of Federal Way does not share Flock camera data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Border Patrol, or any other federal immigration enforcement agencies. Currently, there is one Flock camera system located in the west end of the city, with plans to install a second.”

In response to the reports of access by federal agencies, Coffey told the Mirror that the FWPD proactively conducted an audit of the system.

“No evidence of unauthorized access was found,” Coffey said, adding that “to further safeguard against misuse, the city has disabled the ‘Nationwide Lookup’ feature in our Flock system.”

Coffey later confirmed that this feature was turned off sometime in the last couple of weeks, as soon as the department became aware of what other agencies were uncovering in their data.

Mayor Jim Ferrell said in an emailed statement that “the Flock camera system is an important tool that helps our police department keep Federal Way families safe. These cameras have already proven effective in solving crimes and locating missing persons. We are committed to using this technology responsibly and transparently, with strict safeguards to protect the privacy and rights of everyone in our community.”

Past data concerns

In May 2025, 404 Media released an investigation where they found that immigration authorities were accessing Flock Safety data through state and local law enforcement offices.

Media coverage since then has continued to report on situations where local data was accessed by federal immigration authorities. In a statement in June, Flock Safety clarified in a press release how data sharing between either local or federal law enforcement is up to individual agencies, not Flock Safety as a whole.

Only two months later, however, the company confirmed that they had been testing pilot programs with federal immigration agencies.

In August, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley shared a statement disclosing that the company had “engaged in limited pilots with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)” but that as of Aug. 25, they did not have “a contractual relationship with any U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies,” and that as of the week before, all ongoing federal pilots were paused.

Langley added that “we clearly communicated poorly. We also didn’t create distinct permissions and protocols in the Flock system to ensure local compliance for federal agency users.”

In this 2024 file photo, local leaders cut the ribbon for a new license plate scanning camera that is intended to increase public safety in the Westridge neighborhood in Federal Way. File photo

In this 2024 file photo, local leaders cut the ribbon for a new license plate scanning camera that is intended to increase public safety in the Westridge neighborhood in Federal Way. File photo

Flock Safety in Federal Way

In Federal Way, expanding Flock Safety cameras is a slow going goal.

On Aug. 6, 2024, Westridge HOA unveiled a Flock Safety cameras that the organization had worked together to purchase. The system is comprised of multiple cameras and is located in the Westridge neighborhood, with one directly across from Silver Lake Elementary School located at 1310 SW 325th Place.

In November 2024, city council members and Mayor Ferrell asked for state funding to expand their Flock Safety camera network during the Legislative Agenda Breakfast.

As previously reported by the Mirror, they requested $200,000 for Flock cameras as a “force multiplier for proactive response” for the Federal Way Police Department.

Councilmember Linda Kochmar said at the November 2024 breakfast that while the city already has 260 SafeCity cameras, Flock cameras would be able to partner with those already existing cameras “across jurisdictions to follow the person from Auburn to Federal Way … so that’s a wonderful thing when you’re worried about your car being stolen.”

At some point in 2025, the first Flock camera system paid for by the city was installed at the intersection of SW 320th St. and 21st Avenue SW. This is composed of four Flock cameras.

$50,000 for new Flock Safety camera installation and network access was requested each year in the 2025-2026 FWPD budget presentation to the council. They also shared that one of the 2025-2026 agency goals is the “expansion of the SafeCity and Flock Safety Camera Program to enhance public safety.”

The 2025-2026 Adopted Biennial Budget, however, contains no mention of either Flock cameras or Flock Safety.

According to the contract included in council documents, the cost for the first year of the Flock Safety contract is $23,800 and then will include an annual recurring cost to the city for Flock Safety infrastructure, which is $23,000.

In a budget presentation to the city on Sept. 23, 2024, FWPD Chief Andy Hwang described Flock Safety as the “the future for law enforcement right now” and described how even without having any cameras within the city (at the time), they are already finding a benefit from having access to the company’s search features in neighboring jurisdictions.

While coordination between agencies is one of the benefits that council members have noted in discussing Flock cameras, and has been used successfully in police efforts, community members in Federal Way are already concerned about violations of due process by Border Patrol and ICE, as they made clear at the recent No Kings demonstration on Oct. 18.

Flock Safety released a statement on Oct. 22 in response to the UW report, denying many of the allegations.

“Every Flock customer has complete control over their sharing relationships, and Flock never shares customer data without their knowledge or permission,” according to the company’s statement, adding that “Flock never enrolls agencies in automatic data sharing, and sharing relationships can be revoked at any time.”

The company also pointed to changes made in August to remove federal agencies from national and state lookup altogether and said that “to help protect against these concerns in jurisdictions where these uses are prohibited, we have introduced keyword filters that can block attempts to search for terms related to civil immigration or reproductive health care where state law forbids it. If a prohibited search is made, the filter blocks that search from hitting cameras in those jurisdictions.”

Example of a Flock Safety camera. Photo courtesy of Flock Safety

Example of a Flock Safety camera. Photo courtesy of Flock Safety