Immigration agencies accessed WA law enforcement license plate data, report finds

A new report from the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights found that federal immigration enforcement has been mining license plate data from local law enforcement in Washington state.

This license plate information is gathered through cameras posted along roadways as part of an automated license plate reading network run by Flock Safety, a surveillance company based in Georgia.

At least eight Washington state law enforcement agencies have been “leaving the door wide open” to U.S. Border Patrol and other federal agencies enforcing immigration law by allowing direct access to data gathered from their automatic license plate readers, according to the report.

Those law enforcement agencies are the Arlington, Auburn, Yakima, Lakewood, Richland, Sunnyside, and Wenatchee police departments, as well as the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

Some of the police departments said it caught them off guard, and have recently shut down nationwide access to their systems in response.

“I think what we really need to take away from this is how vulnerable the Flock system is,” said Angelina Godoy, the director of UW’s Center for Human Rights. “How vulnerable that is to misuse, and how little many law enforcement agencies actually understand about the implications of whether they check this box or that box when they set up the network. That’s really problematic, even if they tighten their settings.”

And, Godoy is worried potential misuse will continue, pointing out that Flock is increasingly being used throughout Washington state — including by neighborhood watch communities, companies like Home Depot or Lowe’s, and many malls.

“And many of them enable law enforcement to access their data,” Godoy said.

If the data sharing is left unchecked, Godoy added, it could potentially run local law enforcement afoul of state law, which largely prevents local law enforcement from working with federal immigration enforcement.

The sharing of this data by local law enforcement agencies is the result of a function of Flock Safety called “National Lookup.” It allows agencies with a Flock account to search for a specific vehicle they may be looking for that has been involved in a “heinous crime,” said Sergeant Charles Porche of the Lakewood Police Department.

“This feature has allowed us to resolve serious crimes like sex trafficking,” Porche said in a written statement to KUOW. “Unbeknownst to the Lakewood Police Department, somehow the U.S. Border Patrol got temporary access to a Flock account and used the national lookup tool to query a few vehicles. We were told it was not for immigration related business.”

“The Lakewood Police Department was unaware of this breach because we never allowed usage of the system, its data, nor were we notified,” Porche added. “Their access has been revoked by the company itself, with no further action necessary.”

Another example is the Auburn Police Department, which said in a press release it had a “National Lookup” feature enabled and that’s how federal immigration enforcement officers were able to access their data.

That feature has been turned off as of Monday. Auburn officials wrote in the press release their intent wasn’t to share data with the Department of Homeland Security or agencies engaged in immigration enforcement activities.

The Auburn Police Department now plans to conduct a monthly comprehensive review of usage data used from their part of the Flock system, and if they find an agency using Auburn’s Flock data for immigration enforcement, “its access is immediately and permanently revoked.”

“The integrity of our public safety systems, and the trust our community places in them, is non-negotiable,” Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus said in a statement posted to the Auburn Police Department social media page. “We will continue to take every measure necessary to safeguard our data, uphold state law, and ensure our technology is used only for lawful and ethical policing purposes.”

The report also found that federal immigration enforcement agencies tapped data from law enforcement agencies by more indirect means. At least 10 other Washington police departments did not authorize U.S. Border Patrol or other agencies to access their network data.

The report has gotten the attention of Gov. Bob Ferguson.

“My team is following up with the Office of the Attorney General on the assertions made in the report, and working to ensure local jurisdictions are complying with the bipartisan Keep Washington Working Act,” Ferguson said in an email to KUOW.

KUOW has also reached out to Border Patrol and will update this report when we get a response.