Which Washington cities’ public records show communications with Flock Safety about federal access requests?
Executive summary
Public records reviewed by University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) and reporting by local outlets show that multiple Washington cities and at least one county law-enforcement agency had communications or enabled sharing that resulted in federal access to Flock Safety networks; UWCHR identified Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the city police departments of Arlington, Auburn, Lakewood, Richland, Sunnyside, Wenatchee and Yakima as agencies that “appear to have enabled 1:1 sharing” with U.S. Border Patrol in 2025 [1]. Additional local records, council actions and court filings point to other municipalities — including Federal Way and Prosser — as having documented exchanges with Flock or internal communications about federal access, but the public reporting varies in how directly those records document explicit federal-access requests [2] [3].
1. UWCHR’s public‑records-based list: specific cities and a county identified
The strongest, most specific set of public‑records findings comes from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, which reported that its records review showed at least eight Washington law‑enforcement agencies “appear to have enabled 1:1 sharing of their Flock Network with Border Patrol at some point during 2025,” explicitly naming Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the police departments in Arlington, Auburn, Lakewood, Richland, Sunnyside, Wenatchee and Yakima [1].
2. Media and local government records that corroborate or add names
Local reporting and documents obtained by news organizations and watchdogs expand the picture: press coverage and council records show some cities closed or suspended Flock programs and disclosed records or internal communications after concerns about federal access — for example, Redmond and Lynnwood turned off cameras in October amid records fights and scrutiny [4] [5], and Skagit County court proceedings forced release of Flock footage that triggered wider records requests [6] [7]. Federal Way’s council discussions and budget material also include internal communications with Flock and public acknowledgements that the vendor “communicated poorly,” indicating municipal-level records of Flock interactions [2].
3. Examples where public records show interactions with Flock about federal access or audits
Beyond the UWCHR list, The Urbanist and other outlets obtained emails and attorney‑client communications from municipal records requests that reveal cities grappling with Flock’s policy changes and federal‑user categorizations — The Urbanist reported obtaining communications from Prosser that were released as part of a records request [3]. Investigations have also documented federal agencies querying Flock systems tied to Washington jurisdictions; UWCHR and related reporting say federal agents searched Flock databases of roughly 17–18 Washington agencies between May and August 2025, based on records and audit trails [8] [9].
4. Legal rulings, policy shifts and vendor statements that shape what the records mean
A Skagit County Superior Court ruling held that images captured by Flock cameras are public records, prompting more records requests and revealing municipal communications with Flock and about federal access in litigation and council meetings [6] [7]. Flock responded publicly that it would label federal users differently and deny that it automatically enrolled agencies in sharing, but privacy advocates argued that technical labels don’t eliminate human workarounds or prior audit trails showing federal searches [10] [1].
5. Caveats, gaps and what the sources do not prove
The available reporting is clear that public records show communications and audit evidence implicating specific agencies, but it does not provide a single comprehensive roster of every Washington city whose records include Flock-to-federal access requests; UWCHR’s list and media investigations document a substantial subset — Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the city police departments of Arlington, Auburn, Lakewood, Richland, Sunnyside, Wenatchee and Yakima — while other municipalities (e.g., Federal Way, Prosser, Redmond, Lynnwood, Stanwood, Sedro‑Woolley) appear in reporting as having relevant records, suspensions, or litigation tied to federal access concerns [1] [2] [3] [4] [6]. Reporting does not uniformly show the exact content of every city’s communications with Flock about federal access requests; where source material is absent, that absence has not been asserted as evidence of no communication.