Seattle, WA

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously to impose a 60-day pause on surveillance data collection where a technology can be used for civil immigration enforcement or threatens access to reproductive justice or gender-affirming care. In the same session the council unanimously passed a companion bill aligning the municipal code with state law limiting when Seattle Police officers may inquire into immigration status. The measures respond to Washington SB 6002, which bars ALPR use around schools, places of worship, food banks and courthouses.

What moved this decision

Washington SB 6002 restrictions on ALPR near schools, places of worship, food banks and courthouses
Concern about surveillance data used for civil immigration enforcement
Protection of access to reproductive and gender-affirming care
Expansion of Seattle’s existing surveillance-data kill switch

What happened afterwards

Seattle is a useful control case: it does not contract with Flock at all, and the restriction instead applies to roughly 400 Axon automated license plate readers mounted on patrol cars plus six used by parking enforcement. SPD's crime and community-harm reduction director Lee Hunt said the department was working out how to geofence the protected locations so the in-car readers switch off and on as vehicles pass. That is a materially harder compliance problem than switching off fixed cameras, and it shows the sensitive-location restrictions now spreading through Western states landing on mobile ALPR rather than the fixed-camera vendor that drove the news cycle.

What we still don’t know

These are the records we would need to describe this decision completely. If you can help obtain them, or already have them, get in touch.

Whether the geofencing solution for in-car ALPR was successfully implemented
Whether the 60-day pause was extended or expired