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The Lynnwood City Council at its Feb. 23 business meeting voted unanimously to cancel the City’s contract with the controversial Flock Safety license plate reader system.
The matter was originally scheduled to be considered as a regular agenda item later in the meeting. But Councilmember Isabel Mata moved that the cancellation be added to the council’s consent agenda, considered earlier in the meeting, since many people were attending specifically for that item.
Councilmember Robert Leutwyler seconded the motion, and for transparency, he read the language of the motion to direct staff to terminate the city’s contract with Flock.
“Council was not promptly informed of a data access breach,” Mata said during remarks prior to the council vote. “Promises that the system would not be used for immigration enforcement were broken. Safeguards we were told were in place did not work, and public records show patterns of use that raise serious concerns about oversight and accountability.”
The City of Lynnwood paused the Flock system in November 2025 following a study by the University of Washington that raised concerns about immigration-related data access. The pause came just five months after the system began operating in Lynnwood.
The Lynnwood Police Department had assured the City Council in January that the cameras would not be used for immigration enforcement. However, an Oct. 21 report by the UW Center for Human Rights found that two out-of-state agencies — sheriff’s offices in Jacksonville and Franklin County — conducted searches of Lynnwood’s database in early July and listed “immigration” as the reason.
Although federal agencies such as U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not directly access Lynnwood’s data, the findings triggered public backlash. In response, Police Chief Cole Langdon shut off outside access to the city’s data on Oct. 29, and then paused the entire Flock system.
“People have told us that this system makes them feel less safe, not more, especially those who are already vulnerable,” Mata said. “I am aware that there is pending legislation intended to address some of these concerns. However, I don’t believe that the proposed future fixes are sufficient when the system has already failed in practice.”
The Mountlake Terrace City Council canceled the City’s contract with Flock in December 2025. The City of Edmonds — which also has a contract with Flock — has paused its system.
I’m disappointed in this decision. If the city of Lynnwood has the ability to deny the data being shared with outside resources, why wouldn’t they want to still use it to protect the citizens from lawbreakers in Lynnwood? The police chief has stated that it is a useful tool.