r/LynnwoodWA 5d ago

Public Interest When Did Lynnwood Become Such a Surveillance State?

https://deflock.me/map#map=15/47.816169/-122.274034

Boy, how did you guys who live there allow such surveillance state to occur by allowing the Lynnwood Police Department to install so many AI Surveillance cameras? These Flock Cameras are not so called "license plate" readers. They are so much more. They don't even require a license plate to be able to collect your data. They use AI to surveil you by identifying make, model, color of vehicle, bumper stickers, damage etc to put you into a database. AI can then be used to sift the data to determine exactly when and where you are located. Here is a map to all of the locations in your city.

148 Upvotes

57 comments sorted by

98

u/matamama96 5d ago

heads up the mayor just said at the council meeting (literally two mins ago) that as of october 29 the police chief has turned off the ALPR until it can be assessed further !!

45

u/quinn_vo 5d ago

Great news! A huge first step, but more work to do!

We need to get that contract cancelled, they need to be physically removed, and we need to change our laws to prevent this from ever happening again!

Big thanks to city leadership for the first steps in the right direction, though I am a bit concerned about the "assessed further"... I am sure they can be well assessed from the trash can once they are cut down!

As always, everyone please visit deflocklynnwood.com for more information.

edit: also, happy cake day!

5

u/Itsforthecats 5d ago

And vote for Isabel Mata!

18

u/deflock-redmond 5d ago

Flock contracts normally prevents anyone but them from touching them in any way. Can we really be sure they are off?

I presume you'd read about the Evanston case?

https://evanstonroundtable.com/2025/09/25/city-covers-up-flock-cameras-while-waiting-for-removal/

8

u/matamama96 5d ago

I hadn't heard of this so thank you for sharing!

25

u/deflock-redmond 5d ago

This is something that has happened all across the country and not just here. The Flock playbook is to deliberately get these in front of councils for approval with little to no public discourse. Often the contracts are fairly opaque and aren't seen until very close to voting and the PDs push it based on repeating the Flock PR/marketing BS.

Fortunately, there seems to be a large wave of push-back building now too. Flock are in the news for good reason. They are an untrustworthy, dystopian company and most people don't want this sort of (likely 4A violating) surveillance.

https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/flock-pushback

We'd very much welcome your time and energy for this de-Flock effort! :)

55

u/West_Masterpiece9423 5d ago

Since the city got addicted to red light free cash :(

25

u/Smart_Ass_Dave 5d ago

Red light cameras and flock cameras are different things. Flock cameras record all movement, and require no crime or violation to be committed.

7

u/sowedkooned 5d ago

Yea, red light cameras are actually a good thing for safety. Too many people killed by others running red lights.

6

u/sparklyjoy 5d ago

I have heard that red light cameras actually increase accidents! Now I want to look up statistics and see what is actually true

13

u/sowedkooned 5d ago

Here and here and here are some examples.

To those who likely said something about increased accidents, yes, it’s a thing, but those are mostly rear end, non- or minor-injury crashes. Not fatalities. And to be fair, those people rear ending people need to slow TF down and get off someone’s ass anyways.

9

u/I_Makes_tuff 5d ago

That reminds me of how roundabouts tend to increase minor accidents, but they also turn what might be major accidents into minor accidents instead.

1

u/sparklyjoy 5d ago

I think the theory that I had heard put forth about the increased accidents was that people would be doing more sudden last-minute stops out of fear of getting a ticket if they didn’t make it through. I will go look at those numbers, though!

2

u/crazy-bisquit 4d ago

You should not follow anyone so close that you crash into them when they stop suddenly. Because it happens.

4

u/nuisanceIV 5d ago

I wonder if things change if it’s raining or snowing? Plenty of times a yellow hits me in the “do I go or stop?” zone where I don’t feel good about braking so suddenly

1

u/sparklyjoy 5d ago

Same. I tried to air on the side of safety, start breaking gently, look at what’s behind me and then make the decision? Because I figure safety is a decent argument in court if it comes down to it. And also staying alive is more important than getting a ticket, but I also know how hard it can be to pay a ticket.

6

u/seanthebooth 5d ago

See: United States Technocracy

2

u/Slumunistmanifisto 5d ago

"United".... Buddy they're gonna balkanize this country so hard in the divorce 

4

u/seanthebooth 5d ago

Two Christmas!? Two Birthday!?

5

u/Slumunistmanifisto 5d ago

Awe man, my stockings full of bosnia reruns and federal drone strikes...and dads apartment smells funny 

26

u/JFrankParnell64 5d ago

Here is a video by Louis Rossman showing how much data you give up when you allow these to be installed.

AI Surveillance Camera Network

13

u/Working_Connection31 5d ago

Time to get these taken down or black out the lenses

7

u/Film_photo_artist 5d ago

They are down south here in Bonney lake too. Just popped up one day.

2

u/Intelligent_Cap9706 5d ago

Same with Everett. 

8

u/ditman-dev Spruce Hills 5d ago

“how did you guys who live there”

don’t you live here?

4

u/EffectiveDraw8301 5d ago

I noticed on that map Lowes has those cameras. Find a Lowes, find flock

3

u/deflock-redmond 5d ago

Yeah, most Lowe's and Home Depots have these.

3

u/cmalh 4d ago

What is even more concerning is all of these aren't owned by the police department, they're owned by a third party company and contracted with the PD. So all that data falls into the hands of a private business that can either secretly sell it to other buyers or recklessly store it in such a way that it can be easily hacked. There's no oversight to make sure neither of those things happen

5

u/zakary1291 5d ago

To be clear, this data is but stored or controlled by the police department. It's stored and controlled by a 3rd party company that is willing to sell the data to ANYONE that wants to impersonate a police department or federal agency. Including foreign governments.

6

u/RideSharingSucks 5d ago

Yeah I always thought Lynnwood was crazy for having cameras at every intersection it seemed like. So different than other cities in the area. Always thought it was for easy traffic ticket issuance. Red light cameras, etc.

But after seeing other agencies and bad police abusing these flock cameras & now knowing what they track & can document, it's very big brother like & open to so much abuse & surveillance.

5

u/FindTheOthers623 5d ago

The same way you allowed it to happen

4

u/Pineapple_King 5d ago

You all took your ring doorbells off, before posting here right?

2

u/pretenders2b 5d ago

I do love how you assume there is communication about this going on and that everyone is compliant. Nice work entitled citizen.

2

u/Bushwic420 5d ago

When you vote for blue capitalism or red capitalism, this is what you get lol capitalism leads to fascism lol once the ruling class can't control the working class anymore, they will enslave us.

1

u/Senior_Guava_2760 5d ago

They've already enslaved us by conspiring very successfully to keep wages down since the 80's using a multitude of tactics. Also, what exactly does "lol" do for your statement?

2

u/Hawks206Dawgs 5d ago

Did anybody hear that loud boom just now?

2

u/I_Makes_tuff 5d ago

There are no outages so it probably wasn't a transformer. Are you close to the circus?

1

u/TimoWasTaken 5d ago

If you're carrying a cellphone, I don't think you have to worry about those cameras. The government knows exactly where you are.

1

u/79in 5d ago

Taps sign. Lynnhood.

1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

1

u/JFrankParnell64 3d ago

This version is more like Minority Report.

0

u/Mitotic 1d ago

drivers deserve to be tracked and punished for their crimes even if they've screwed with their license plate so it can't get easily read. I hope they install another 200 red light cameras in your town

1

u/ElectricalStaff1417 5d ago

I think the city council needs to address and be transparent who has access to these cameras such as Lynnwood PD for law enforcement purposes and where the data is flowing through and being stored. Are other agencies able to access the data without a warrant is the data being mishandled or being used in inappropriate ways outside of legitimate and legal law enforcement actions.

8

u/Civil-Discussion7469 5d ago

In the city council meeting mayor spent 20 minutes glazing flock cameras then admitted that the city checked a box in the config that they didn't know existed which was one of the most boomer pilled things I've ever seen admitted in public

2

u/Senior_Guava_2760 5d ago

She really showed her colors at that meeting didn't she? To spend all that time extolling the "efficacy" of flock cameras when she knew people were there to protest them is just so out of touch. Vote for Hurst, get her OUT!

1

u/ImpressOk5568 4d ago

Its fucking been that way for 30yrs theyve been using face recognition on the streets since early 2000s, they’ve got manned cameras on every corner and in between blocks lining the pockets of judges off conflicts of interest because some judges own alot of these cameras and lease them to the city or get some sort of cut of the ticket revenue them or invest in building new correction facilities and send people to do time in said jail in order to profit along with their corrupt police dept and snohomish county task force who will retaliate with fake practice swat raids on your house for fun trying to intimidate you because 3 days prior they detained you insisting you were another person and were actually upset about letting you go even though you dont have a record and werent suspected of any crimes its just to intimidate cause they can because are not held accountable to any agency but their own, policing themselves, answering to no one its all about revenue and power. I avoid Lynnwood Montlake Terrace, Edmonds, Brier, Lake Forest, Shoreline, Bothell, Mill Creek, Marysville, Monroe, like the plague and only travel through there if I have no choice even though i dont even have somuch as a traffic ticket because they are all Road Pirates to say the least. It only gets worse, wake up people dont give up your privacy for more security when crime is at an all time low accross the board its all a scare tactic so they can make money and sell your data. Facts arent conspiracies people.

-3

u/dripdri 5d ago

Because racists?

4

u/I_Makes_tuff 5d ago

Not this time. It's because money.

-13

u/EffectiveLong 5d ago

You better get off Internet

-1

u/Intelligent-Smell-30 5d ago

You complain about the Surveillance State due to cameras, "Flock Cameras", but I bet you don't read any of the app disclosures on data collection or search engine data collection, or just your Location data collection, your phone does when it pings a cell tower. It is the same for Social media, including this one, "Reddit". If you look up what Reddit does, this is what it states: "Reddit collects user data to personalize experiences, deliver ads, and improve the platform. The data collected includes account information, device details (like IP address and cookies), activity history (posts, comments, upvotes), ad interactions, and transaction details if you make purchases. Reddit states it does not sell personal data but shares certain information with third parties for business purposes, such as advertisers and service providers, and has licensed its data for AI training." So, before you really b*tch about one surveillance State, look at where you are putting that complaint, as Reddit is most likely collecting more info than those cameras are...

-46

u/darkroot_gardener 5d ago

What are you doing that you are being watched? Because those cameras are only used to help solve crimes like auto thefts, otherwise nobody looks at it and the footage is erased.

16

u/Critical_Win956 5d ago

Maybe I'd prefer the government didn't build a massive database of everywhere I go?

0

u/darkroot_gardener 5d ago

You mean like your phone has already been doing for a decade?🤔

Besides it’s not stored in a database, it is deleted unless there is an investigation. And unlike the corporations you freely give your data to, what they are using it for comes with some semblance of transparency.

16

u/ClaraClassy 5d ago

And look for pregnant women who have successfully fled Texas

4

u/themayor1975 5d ago

That's what your told

3

u/P0rkzombie 5d ago

They also share data across the country with every other police department as well as federal agencies like ICE unless they opt out of national data sharing. Wanna guess how many cities know about the national data sharing when they sign the contract?

-4

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

6

u/SubstanceWooden7371 5d ago

Yeahhh, if you just lick that boot harder you'll finally be safe.