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Mountlake Terrace City Manager Jeff Niten on Wednesday issued a city “statement of values” in response to public concerns regarding the Flock license plate-reading system approved by the Mountlake Terrace City Council June 5.
Writing on behalf of the council, Niten said that councilmembers approved the contract to assist police in locating criminal suspects, as well as missing and endangered individuals, more quickly.
Niten acknowledged that “several community members expressed significant concern that the new cameras could be used for invasive purposes, especially in light of the actions taken recently by our federal government.” Mountlake Terrace residents have voiced concerns during public comments about the Flock camera system, which was approved during the council’s June 5 meeting, following delays in the vote on March 27 and May 15.
During the June 12 council meeting, Sarah Junkin-Clark said she felt unheard and asked councilmembers to “take a very good look” at the contract with Flock, as well as any memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and to pay attention to how those are worded.
Haley King said that contracts are only as good as the protection against their abuse, and that many people want to believe they are acting in good faith. However, working with contract reviews for a living, she pointed out a fact about contracts.
“Good faith is legally meaningless,” King said.
Further, King said there were cases of the Flock system being used to track those seeking and providing abortion care, including systems in Illinois and Washington state.
During public comments, speaker Dustin Dekoekkoek also mentioned the story of the Texas law enforcement agency using Flock to track women seeking an abortion. He explained that Mountlake Prospect, Illinois, has several laws similar to those in Mountlake Terrace and requested that the council reconsider and have stronger contract and MOU language.
Nationally, reports have indicated that ICE is using Flock cameras for immigration enforcement.
Documents reviewed by 404 Media and reported by Reason state that ICE does not have a subscription to Flock Safety products; however, it was still able to access more than 5,000 cameras nationwide via the Danville, Illinois, police department.
The Wisconsin Examiner reported that the audit showed the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, police department’s Special Investigations Division also accessed the Danville system. A Milwaukee Police Department spokesperson said the searches were for a federal task force linked to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.
There are two reasons why ICE was able to retrieve the information: a federal investigation can override a local MOU due to the Supremacy Clause, and because MOUs are not typically legally binding like a contract.
During her recent city council comments, Audrey Meyer of Mountlake Terrace referred to this as “side-door access,” which wouldn’t be found until an audit was conducted.
Meyer is best known around City Hall and in the community for her work with the Ivy League and efforts to clean up the city’s trails and parks. During the July 10 meeting, she asked the council to reconsider their decision and to ensure there is no unauthorized access by other agencies.
The daughter of an immigrant with family in Southern California, Meyer spoke about their experiences in Los Angeles during the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests.
While Meyer’s sister was at an interview for Global Entry authorization at the Customs Border Office, she saw the National Guard setting up, “many, many with machine guns.” Only a couple of days later, Meyer said ICE was outside of her nephew’s high school in a suburb of Los Angeles. The day after that, ICE agents were running after someone on her mother’s street.
“I’m not worried about a masked burglar, I’m worried about a masked ICE agent,” Meyer said.
Although she can fight off an intruder, Meyer said she knows she can’t fight a federal officer.
In his written message, Niten said the city will share the Flock system policies with the public and the template agreement the city will use to allow neighboring police agency partners to access the camera systems.
“This agreement is clear and reflects the values of our diverse community, and the values found inside City Hall,” Niten said.
You can read the city’s full response here.
Why is it the bleeding heart liberal s never stop complaining ??????
Because caring about civil liberties, government transparency, and the rights of all our neighbors isn’t “complaining”, it’s civic engagement.
Many of us raising concerns about the Flock camera system aren’t anti-police and we’re certainly not anti-safety. We simply believe that when powerful surveillance tools are adopted, there should be meaningful public oversight and safeguards to protect people’s privacy, especially in a time when federal agencies have used similar tools to target immigrants, abortion seekers, and protestors.
Calling people “bleeding hearts” doesn’t change the facts. It just avoids having to reckon with them. We all want to live in a safe, welcoming community. That’s exactly why some of us are speaking up.
In the Seattle Times, July 25, 2025, there is an article about the Trump administration wanting data from a private company that processes the SNAP program (food stamps) for our state. This would affect over 1 million people. This is no different than the Flock camera system. Another article about a Trump executive order allowing for involuntary commitment of homeless people. Another article about local Spanish language music festivals being cancelled. (fear of ICE) And the Paramount sale (8 billion) approved by the FCC after CBS paid Trump 16 million. And this is just one day in the paper.