Show the whole system.
Publish government-owned camera locations, contracts, costs, funding sources, current policies, and aggregate usage statistics.
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON / PRIVACY IS LOCAL.
Spokane is not a
surveillance
database.
Our roads connect us. They shouldn’t track us.
License plate cameras record ordinary drivers across our community. We deserve to know what’s collected, who can access it, and who gets to decide.
OUR CITY. OUR PRIVACY. OUR SAY.Get the facts
TRANSPARENCY.ACCOUNTABILITY.MEANINGFUL LIMITS.A PUBLIC SAY.
01 / THE LOCAL PICTURE
It’s already
on our roads.
Automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, photograph passing vehicles and turn those sightings into searchable records.
A driver doesn’t have to be suspected of a crime to be recorded. A plate, a place, and a time can reveal pieces of someone’s daily routine.
In February 2025, Spokane Police presented a plan to move its fixed ALPR system to Flock Safety. The proposal identified funding for 28 fixed Falcon cameras and 2 movable Falcon Flex cameras.
City Council records: February 3, 2025 public safety materials ↗28Fixed Falcon camerasIn the February 2025 proposal
02Movable Falcon Flex camerasIn the February 2025 proposal
A PROPOSAL ≠ A LIVE COUNT
These figures describe the original funding proposal, not a verified count of cameras operating today.
Spokane is more than one jurisdiction.
The City of Spokane, Spokane County, Liberty Lake, Airway Heights, and private operators are distinct. A regional map is not a city-owned camera inventory.
02 / FOLLOW THE NETWORK
Closer than
you might think.
Explore reported ALPR locations around Spokane and the surrounding area. These are roads people use every day.
Open full DeFlock mapMap by DeFlock. Community reports may be incomplete or outdated; a marker does not establish current operation, ownership, or agency access.
Map not loading? Open it directly ↗03 / WHY IT MATTERS
One camera records.
A network reveals.
The concern isn’t just one photograph. It’s what becomes possible when sightings can be searched across locations.
Repeated records can expose patterns: the commute, the appointment, the place of worship, the people we visit. That deserves public scrutiny.
Police can use ALPR records for investigations and vehicle alerts. The public still deserves evidence that the benefits justify the collection, cost, and risk.
THE QUESTION AT THE CENTER OF IT ALLCollect first.
Collect first.
Search later.
Should everyone’s movements become searchable just in case they’re useful someday?
Who gets access?
Local rules matter. So do the settings that control sharing.
Who can search Spokane’s data?
Residents deserve a current list of authorized agencies, the rules for outside-jurisdiction and federal requests, and the approval process for changing access.
How long is information kept?
Publish current retention rules for detections, exported records, and search logs separately. An older 30-day retention statement should not be treated as proof of today’s settings.
Who watches the people doing the searching?
Require a documented investigative reason, tamper-resistant logs, independent audits, and meaningful consequences for misuse. Publish audit findings without exposing personal information.
Does it actually make Spokane safer?
Publish aggregate investigations, arrests, convictions, false alerts, and annual costs. Explain what the system contributed and which outcomes relied on it. A scan count alone is not a public-safety outcome.
WASHINGTON HAS RULES. SPOKANE STILL HAS A CHOICE.
State law is a floor.
Not the finish line.
Washington’s Attorney General identifies RCW 10.130 as the law governing ALPR use by local and state agencies and provides a registration and policy resource.
Residents should be able to inspect the applicable law and each agency’s current policy. Regulation does not settle whether Spokane should expand this infrastructure.
Read the Attorney General’s ALPR resource ↗04 / WHAT WE’RE ASKING FOR
Pause expansion.
Answer the public.
Before adding more cameras, Spokane should demonstrate the need and put meaningful public safeguards in place.
Put limits on access.
Disclose outside-agency access and data-sharing rules. Require documented investigative justification for searches.
Make oversight real.
Maintain tamper-resistant search logs, conduct regular audits, and establish meaningful penalties for misuse.
Give the public a say.
No additional cameras without public review. Require City Council approval for material city-system expansion and reevaluate the system against measurable outcomes.
If this technology is justified, prove it.
And govern it transparently.
05 / MAKE YOURSELF HEARD
YOUR VOICE BELONGS IN THIS DECISION.Privacy doesn’t
defend itself.
Ask Spokane City Council to pause expansion of automated license plate surveillance until the public gets answers and meaningful safeguards.
A minute of your time.
A message on the record.
Opens your email app; you review and send. To: Spokane City Council Office.
Take it to City Hall.
Council Chambers, Lower Level
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
Check the official calendar for the next meeting’s date, time, agenda, and public-comment sign-up instructions.
Upcoming meetings & public comment ↗Three talking points to bring
- Pause expansion until residents have a public review.
- Publish who can search and share vehicle records.
- Show measurable outcomes, costs, and audit results.
Keep the pressure on.
Follow Council updates and check the community map as the public record develops.
Council newsletters ↗Follow the DeFlock project ↗THE RECORD / READ IT FOR YOURSELF
01 / CITY RECORDSCouncil documents & proposals ↗02 / WASHINGTON STATEALPR registration & policies ↗03 / COMMUNITY DATADeFlock’s camera map ↗04 / YOUR REPRESENTATIVESCouncil contacts & districts ↗
Historical proposal figures are labeled by date. Map reports are not an official inventory. Our demands are advocacy positions, not a claim that every requested safeguard is currently absent.