Feds searched security systems at 18 WA police agencies, report finds
At least three Seattle-area police departments changed their surveillance programs this week after learning U.S. Border Patrol had searched their Flock Safety databases this year, a practice civil rights researchers and advocates said might violate state law, if done for immigration enforcement purposes.
Police officials in Renton, Auburn and Lakewood said they weren’t aware the federal agency had accessed their departments’ databases until they were notified last week by researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.
All three use Flock Safety’s surveillance cameras and software, which capture time- and location-stamped images and license plate numbers of any cars passing through their jurisdictions.
In a report published Tuesday, the center identified those agencies and 15 others in the state whose Flock Safety data was searched this year by the Border Patrol, a federal agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws. The agency cited “immigration” and “targeting” as reasons for some of those searches, according to the report.
In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Bob Ferguson said his office and the attorney general’s office were looking into the report and “working to ensure local jurisdictions are complying with the bipartisan Keep Washington Working Act,” a 2019 law barring most state agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement.
Phil Neff, a researcher who worked on the report, said it remains unclear how the Border Patrol accessed the local agencies’ databases. Researchers have also not confirmed whether the searches were done for immigration enforcement purposes.
I wonder where else around the nation this might be happening.
Police officials in Renton, Auburn and Lakewood said they weren’t aware the federal agency had accessed their departments’ databases until they were notified last week by researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.
All three use Flock Safety’s surveillance cameras and software, which capture time- and location-stamped images and license plate numbers of any cars passing through their jurisdictions.
In a report published Tuesday, the center identified those agencies and 15 others in the state whose Flock Safety data was searched this year by the Border Patrol, a federal agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws. The agency cited “immigration” and “targeting” as reasons for some of those searches, according to the report.
In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Bob Ferguson said his office and the attorney general’s office were looking into the report and “working to ensure local jurisdictions are complying with the bipartisan Keep Washington Working Act,” a 2019 law barring most state agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement.
Phil Neff, a researcher who worked on the report, said it remains unclear how the Border Patrol accessed the local agencies’ databases. Researchers have also not confirmed whether the searches were done for immigration enforcement purposes.
I wonder where else around the nation this might be happening.
