Skamania County Sheriff | Flock Safety license plate readers
Self-funded, eleven months in service, and retired not by the surveillance law but by a court ruling that let the public see the data.
At a glance
- The system
- At least six cameras, installed December 2024, paid for by the Sheriff's Office; stated purposes were stolen vehicles and amber and silver alerts [1]
- The end
- November 2025, days after a Washington court ruled plate reader data subject to public records requests [1]
- The stated reason
- "This recent court decision is a threat to public safety, allowing access to anyone and extending far beyond the policy parameters set forth by the Skamania County Sheriff's Office for their own personnel" (the office's statement) [1]
- The sheriff
- "At this point, I'm just done with the cameras. It's been tumultuous to say the least" — Sheriff Summer Scheyer [1]
How it happened
- Deployment
Six cameras, self-funded
The office installs at least six Flock cameras at its own expense. [1]
- Context
The records ruling
A Washington court rules plate reader data is subject to public records requests. [1]
- Decision
Done with the cameras
The office announces it has stopped using the system, citing the ruling's disclosure of data "to anyone". [1]
Retired by transparency
Five Washington counties on this site answered the plate reader reckoning of 2026 five ways, and Skamania’s is the strangest: the cameras did not survive the public’s right to see what they collected. The office’s statement objects that the ruling extends access “far beyond the policy parameters set forth by the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office for their own personnel”, which is a precise description of what a public records law is for. A system whose operators preferred retirement to disclosure tells a reader something no policy document would have.
What remains open is the data: eleven months of plate reads collected before the shutoff, whose fate the records request asks after, along with whether the cameras came down or merely went dark.
What we do not know
- The wind-down paperwork and the disposition of eleven months of collected plate data.
- Whether the cameras were removed or merely disabled, and any reactivation conditions.
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 Skamania County.
What we have documented in Skamania 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.
Get the digest
A regular digest of what changed in the world of surveillance: the counties we published, the devices that appeared on the map, and the public meetings where these decisions get made. We send it when there is enough to report.
One click to unsubscribe. What we do with your address is on the newsletter page.