The city says it had to stop due to security concerns when lawmakers were debating protecting license plate data from disclosure.
The decision came after a Washington man filed a public records request seeking access to data captured by the cameras.
Jose Rodriguez of Walla Walla, represented by attorney Tim Hall, requested footage from several jurisdictions in Washington state to see what information the automated license plate reader system was collecting.
“He started noticing that cameras were everywhere – he wanted to see what kind of data they collected,” Hall said.
The requests revealed that Flock cameras capture thousands of images continuously, regardless of whether a vehicle is linked to a crime.
When several cities, including Everett, moved to block the request, the case went to court.
On Tuesday, a Snohomish County judge ruled that footage captured by Flock cameras qualifies as public records under Washington law, meaning members of the public can request access to the data.
Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin said the city disagrees with the decision and is concerned about who may obtain the footage.
“We were very disappointed,” Franklin said. “This means that criminals, people who are perhaps engaged in domestic abuse or stalking, can request footage and that can cause a lot of harm.”
Following the verdict, Everett temporarily shut down all 68 of its Flock cameras.
At the same time, lawmakers in Olympia are debating a bill that would exempt the footage from the public records law.
Supporters of the proposed legislation argue that public access to the data could pose security risks, including the possibility that federal immigration agents could attempt to obtain the footage through public disclosure requests.
Hall echoed those concerns, saying that public records requests are typically a lengthy process and unlikely to be useful for real-time tracking.
“As someone who has created and requested hundreds of public records myself, and has represented numerous people in public records lawsuits, this is typically a lengthy process,” Hall said. “The same will be true for ICE. They’re going to get data from where you were three months, two months ago.”
Franklin said Everett would consider turning the cameras back on if lawmakers pass a law allowing cities to protect Swarm data from public disclosure. He said the city is not destroying or removing the cameras in the meantime.
“Should we find a solution in Olympia that allows us to protect the data from public disclosure, then we can decide to turn them back over,” Franklin said.
Right now, Everett’s Flock camera network is offline as the Legislature continues to debate transparency, privacy and public safety. A bill to impose guidelines on fluke data in Olympia has passed the Senate.
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