To the Editor:
I am writing in response to the article “Snohomish PD’s plans for license-plate cams” (March 26 Tribune).
Although the city administration suggests Flock license plate reading cameras are an “aid in crime prevention,” they are actually an assault on Fourth Amendment rights. Advocates for the cameras suggest they are Constitutional, but just ask Virginia residents Lee Schmidt and Crystal Arrington whose federal lawsuit against the city of Norfolk was allowed to proceed earlier this year by United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The Court ruled the Flock system “violate(s) society’s expectation of privacy: law enforcement secretly monitoring and cataloguing the whole of tens of thousands of individual’s movements over an extended period.” Although the “extended period” in the federal lawsuit is defined as up to 30 days, Snohomish Police is lobbying for three times the amount of an extended period: up to 90 days.
If you value Fourth Amendment rights “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures,” then say “no” to Snohomish Police on Flock cameras and protect your rights against warrantless monitoring.
Put the Flock cameras where they belong: in the trash.
Matthew Fortin
Lake Stevens
