Snohomish County’s Three-Track Flock Camera Experiment: A Complete 2026 Guide to Lynnwood, Everett, and Snohomish City Under the Driver Privacy Act

Q: How do Snohomish County cities compare on Flock license-plate reader cameras in May 2026?

A: Within roughly 90 days, three Snohomish County cities took three different paths on Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. Lynnwood terminated its Flock contract on February 22, 2026. Everett restarted its 68-camera network on April 7, 2026, after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 6002 (the Driver Privacy Act) on March 30. On May 13, 2026, the Snohomish City Council told staff to keep its purchased cameras in storage until the Washington Attorney General publishes a statewide ALPR model policy by the statutory deadline of July 1, 2027.

Snohomish County’s Three-Track ALPR Experiment

If you live in Everett and drive into a different Snohomish County city — Lynnwood for shopping, Edmonds for the ferry, Snohomish for a Saturday on First Street — you are crossing between three different surveillance postures inside one county boundary. This guide is the complete 2026 map of where each city stands, what changed, and what the same statewide law (SB 6002, the Driver Privacy Act) means for each path.

The three cities did not start at three different places. They started in roughly the same place — local law enforcement using or considering Flock Safety ALPR cameras as a tool for case clearance and stolen-vehicle recovery — and within a 90-day window they each picked a different lane.

Lynnwood: Contract Terminated February 22, 2026

On February 22, 2026, the Lynnwood City Council voted unanimously to terminate the city’s contract with Flock Safety. According to reporting in the Lynnwood Times and HeraldNet, the council named two specific failures:

• Nationwide lookup left on for nine days. Flock’s “nationwide lookup” feature — which allows any participating agency in the United States to search a local network — was active in Lynnwood for nine days before Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon turned it off.
• Out-of-state immigration-related searches. Local reporting found that out-of-state agencies conducted more than 100,000 searches of the Lynnwood network during that window, including at least sixteen searches tied to immigration enforcement.

Councilwoman Isabel Mata, speaking during the termination vote, said: “The contract with Flock has failed on its most basic requirement, trust. Council was not promptly informed of a data access breach. Promises that the system would not be used for immigration enforcement were broken.” Lynnwood’s cameras had been offline since October 2025; the February vote made that pause permanent.

Everett: Network Restarted April 7, 2026

Everett’s path runs the opposite direction from the same starting point. The Everett Police Department took its 68-camera Flock network offline in late February 2026, following a Public Records Act ruling and broader concerns about how Flock data was being accessed by outside agencies. The pause lasted roughly six weeks.

On April 7, 2026, EPD restored the network — eight days after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed SB 6002 into law on March 30. Everett’s restart is, in effect, a bet that the new statewide framework solves enough of the concerns that triggered the original pause. EPD Commander Natalie Given and the ACLU of Washington’s Simone Tarver are on opposite sides of whether that bet is the right one. We covered the restart in detail in our April 23 Flock Network and SB 6002 Guide.

Snohomish (City): Cameras Stay in Storage Until July 1, 2027

The city of Snohomish — roughly 10,000 people on the east side of the Snohomish River, not to be confused with the surrounding county — purchased a small set of Flock ALPR cameras last year. The cameras never went up. They have been sitting in storage.

On May 13, 2026, at least four members of the Snohomish City Council told staff to keep them there. Per the Snohomish County Tribune’s account of the meeting:

• Councilman Tom Merrill said the city does not have the level of crime that warrants Flock cameras at all.
• Councilman David Flynn said in his current read the “liability does not outweigh the possible assistance from time to time.”
• Councilwoman Dr. Anup Deol agreed and said the city should revisit the issue periodically.
• Council President Felix Neals proposed waiting for the Washington Attorney General’s statewide ALPR model policy, which has a statutory deadline of July 1, 2027.

Snohomish is not killing the program. It is parking it for up to fourteen months while a higher-level policy gets written by someone else.

The Statewide Frame: What SB 6002 Actually Does

The three different city paths all sit on top of one statewide law. SB 6002 — the Driver Privacy Act, signed by Gov. Ferguson on March 30, 2026 — established Washington’s first comprehensive ALPR framework. Its core provisions:

• 21-day retention limit on ALPR data, with limited exceptions — significantly shorter than the open-ended retention many agencies had been operating under (and tighter than the prior 30-day status quo).
• Ban on sharing ALPR data with federal immigration authorities for civil immigration enforcement.
• Ban on use of ALPR for tracking people accessing reproductive healthcare, places of worship, courts, food banks, or engaging in constitutionally protected activities such as protest.
• Warrant requirement before law enforcement obtains ALPR data from private entities; a ban on the buying and selling of ALPR data.
• Two-step compliance timeline: the Washington Attorney General develops and publishes statewide model policies by July 1, 2027; every agency that continues to operate ALPR systems must align its local policy by December 1, 2027.

The Two Dates That Matter Most: July 1, 2027 and December 1, 2027

That two-step timeline is the structural answer to why Snohomish chose to wait while Everett chose to restart. The Attorney General’s office has until July 1, 2027, to publish the model policy. After that, every agency operating ALPR systems has until December 1, 2027, to bring its policy into compliance.

Everett’s bet: the statute itself is enough scaffolding to restart now, with the model policy expected to formalize what’s already implicit. Snohomish’s bet: wait until the model policy is written before deciding whether to deploy cameras the city has already bought. Lynnwood made a different decision entirely — the trust gap is too wide to repair, even with new statutory guardrails.

The Wider Pattern Across Washington

Snohomish County is not the only county where the same law produced different answers. Renton suspended its ALPR cameras in April 2026 after SB 6002 passed. Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank shut down the county’s entire ALPR network, calling the law a setback for public safety. Several other Washington agencies paused operations to evaluate compliance. The pattern: SB 6002 forces a re-decision in every jurisdiction that uses ALPR, and the answer is anything but uniform.

What This Means If You Live in Everett

Everett’s 68 cameras are back online and operating under SB 6002’s data-retention and use restrictions. If you commute regularly into Lynnwood, you are driving through a city that has affirmatively rejected ALPR. If you head east into the city of Snohomish, you are in a jurisdiction that has chosen to wait. The single statewide framework applies in all three places — but the practical result on the ground is three different surveillance postures inside a 25-minute drive.

Related Exploring Everett Coverage

• Everett’s Flock Camera Network and Washington’s Driver Privacy Act: The Complete 2026 Guide
• What Everett’s Reactivated Flock Cameras Actually Mean for You as a Resident
• For Everett Business Owners: What SB 6002 and the Reactivated Flock Network Mean

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Washington Gov. Ferguson sign the Driver Privacy Act?

Gov. Bob Ferguson signed SB 6002, the Driver Privacy Act, into law on March 30, 2026. It is Washington’s first comprehensive law regulating automated license plate readers.

How many Flock cameras does Everett operate in 2026?

The Everett Police Department operates a network of 68 Flock Safety ALPR cameras. The network was paused in late February 2026 and restored on April 7, 2026.

Why did Lynnwood terminate its Flock contract?

On February 22, 2026, the Lynnwood City Council voted unanimously to terminate the contract, citing nine days during which Flock’s “nationwide lookup” feature was active without authorization, more than 100,000 out-of-state searches of the Lynnwood network during that window, and at least sixteen searches tied to immigration enforcement.

What is the data retention limit under SB 6002?

SB 6002 limits ALPR data retention to 21 days, with limited exceptions. That is shorter than the prior 30-day status quo and tighter than the open-ended retention many agencies had been operating under.

When must Washington agencies be in compliance with SB 6002?

SB 6002 sets a two-step timeline. The Washington Attorney General must publish statewide ALPR model policies by July 1, 2027. Every agency that continues to operate ALPR systems must bring its local policy into compliance by December 1, 2027.

Is the city of Snohomish using ALPR cameras in 2026?

No. The Snohomish City Council directed staff on May 13, 2026, to keep purchased Flock cameras in storage while members wait for the Washington Attorney General’s statewide ALPR model policy, due July 1, 2027.

Does SB 6002 ban ALPR cameras outright in Washington?

No. SB 6002 regulates how ALPR systems can be used. It establishes a 21-day data retention limit, bans sharing with federal immigration authorities for civil enforcement, restricts placement near schools and health-care facilities, and requires a warrant before law enforcement can obtain ALPR data from private entities.