Chelan County Sheriff | Flock Safety license plate readers
Sixty cameras announced on grant money in 2024; twelve running by the sheriff's own 2026 account, with the county's biggest manhunt arriving before the system did.
At a glance
- The plan
- About 60 solar-powered Flock cameras county-wide, announced August 2024, operational target January 2025, $85,000 in grants (state auto-theft authority and the sheriffs' association, per regional reporting) [1] [2]
- The deployment
- 12 cameras operating as of August 2026, per the sheriff's account; credited with stolen-vehicle recoveries, missing-person finds, and locating a murder suspect passing through Leavenworth [3]
- The admission
- On the 2025 Travis Decker manhunt: "Had our cameras been up and running, we would have seen him driving through Leavenworth and turning down High School Road" [3]
- On the vendor
- "I really do point the finger towards Flock on that. They should have done a better job communicating that" — Sheriff Morrison on the statewide data-sharing controversy [3]
- State law
- RCW 10.130 requires registration with the Attorney General by 30 September 2026 for operating agencies, and a published policy by 1 December 2027 [4]
How it happened
- Procurement
Sixty cameras announced
Sheriff Mike Morrison describes the plan: "Our deputies are spread thin, so we need to find additional ways we can expand our footprint, and Flock with their license plate reader cameras assist us in best getting crime 24-7." [1]
- Coverage
Twelve cameras, cooler tone
The office operates 12 cameras. Morrison: "We see it as a force multiplier, but you know, unsure. Any technology, you get past the advertisement and more of the hype of it, and see what it practically does." [3]
Announced at sixty, running at twelve
Both numbers are the sheriff’s. The 2024 announcement promised roughly sixty solar-powered cameras on grant money, watching county roads by January. The 2026 interview counts twelve, and the enthusiasm has been replaced by something more careful: force multiplier, but unsure; get past the advertisement and see what it practically does. What happened between sixty and twelve is not in the public record we could read, and the records request asks rather than guesses.
The system’s sharpest characterization is the sheriff’s own counterfactual. When the county’s most-watched manhunt passed through Leavenworth in 2025, the cameras were not yet running. A surveillance network’s absence at the moment it was bought for is a fact about procurement timelines, and it is in the record only because the sheriff said it aloud.
What we do not know
- The executed Flock agreement and camera-locations schedule, and why twelve of the announced sixty are running — a records question, not an inference.
- The registration due at the Attorney General by 30 September 2026.
- The use policy the statute requires published by December 2027.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Chelan County.
What we have documented in Chelan County →Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
- 1.
- 2. Wenatchee World / KPQ, regional plate reader reporting, August 2024 · News · · accessed
- 3.
- 4. Revised Code of Washington 10.130, Washington State Legislature · Law · accessed
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