How Washington State Is Regulating Surveillance Technologies

If you’ve had concerns over the increasing use by Law enforcement of surveillance cameras and license plate scanners you can relax, (Just a little.) Washington state lawmakers have decided to ask law enforcement to back off a little bit on their use of surveillance cameras and also flock camera systems. 

According to axios.com,
‘Washington lawmakers passed the state’s first-ever restriction on automated license plate readers earlier this year, and Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the bill into law March 30. It limits how police can use the technology, caps how long data can be stored (21 days) and restricts how that data can be shared. 
It also bars agencies from collecting data near certain locations, including health care facilities, immigration-related sites, schools, places of worship and food banks.’ 

License plate readers. (Flock cameras.) Have the capability to identify license plates on cars and then follow them and determine their destination. This system has been a major upgrade for Seattle law enforcement. Unfortunately, it appears that data from these systems has wound being shared with multiple agencies, including federal agencies. 

The new law.

This new law limits the use of this technology by the police and also defines how long the information can be held (up to 21 days) and who it can or cannot be shared with. Another part of the bill regulates certain locations where law enforcement is not allowed to gather data. Like schools, places of worship, food banks, health care facilities, and immigration-related sites. 

Western Washington law enforcement agencies such as Seattle have already trimmed back the use of these systems, and other municipalities (Sedro, Woolley, Lynnwood and Redmond) have scaled back or curtailed the use of their systems altogether. 

This is not the end of the story for surveillance cameras or license plate readers. A spokesperson for the Seattle police department said that their program has been paused until the department “can guarantee the technology meets the new state requirements.”