YAKIMA, Wash. – A public hearing was recently held regarding Senate Bill 6002, which seeks to regulate the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs). Currently, more than 80 cities, six counties and three tribal governments in Washington have contracts with Flock and other ALPR companies.
A report from the University of Washington in October named eight law enforcement agencies in the state have shared data with U.S. Border Patrol. The Yakima Police Department was one of those agencies listed.
Chief Shawn Boyle dismisses that claim, saying that he spoke with the researchers from the report, and said that they have had no 1:1 sharing with U.S. Border Patrol. He says that YPD has not received a request from USBP for any data sharing, and that they limit who they share with to fellow police departments in Washington.
Chief Shawn Boyle addressed the report, stating, “I think the best agencies can do is educate their officers. What they can and can’t use the LPR [License Plate Readers] for.”
Yakima Police Department was among the first in the state to use flock cameras to combat crime in 2022. They currently operate 87 fixed cameras and six mobile ones. If Senate Bill 6002 passes, Washington would join 16 other states with laws regulating the use of automated license plate readers.
Chief Boyle supports parts of the bill, particularly those regarding public disclosure.
“[It makes it] No longer subject to all the images being subject to public disclosure is obviously positive for cities because we’re getting a lot of public disclosure requests and I think a lot of them are meant to just kind of bog the system down,” he said.
The bill would restrict the use of this data to felony investigations only. Boyle expressed concerns.
“Only limiting it to investigative purposes for felony crimes is going to greatly inhibit our ability to keep our community safe. You know, retail theft is a huge issue in the city of Yakima throughout the Washington state, and not all of those we know are felonies right off the bat,” he said.
Yakima Police had previously approved data sharing with the Postal Service Inspection Service in 2023 but ceased after learning of the agency’s involvement in immigration enforcement.
Boyle clarified, “We educate our officers; they know what the reasons why we can and can’t use the LPR. We have to be very diligent about how we use our resources. And using the use of technology helps us expand our ability to keep our community safe.”
Boyle emphasized that a major public misconception is that they constantly monitor data, but he argued that they lack the time, officers and reason to do so. The retention period for data in the first substitute version of the bill was extended from three to 21 days. Yakima Police currently retain flock camera data for 30 days.
