Flock Cameras in Woodburn, Oregon

The short version

Woodburn, Oregon paused its Flock Safety camera system in November 2025 after residents raised immigration-enforcement concerns. The city later ended the contract, and KATU reported that Flock confirmed all license plate reader cameras had been removed by May 13, 2026.

The city audit is why Woodburn matters. Woodburn's impact assessment said 3,318,618 searches were conducted on the city's Flock camera network from January 15, 2025 through November 13, 2025 by 4,734 law enforcement agencies, including Woodburn Police.

Most of those searches were broad network searches, not searches aimed only at Woodburn. But the audit still showed federal agencies made 6,089 searches that touched Woodburn's network. That was enough to turn a local public-safety tool into a trust problem.

What Woodburn bought

Woodburn's public Q&A says the city planned 25 Flock cameras and reached a peak of 23 installed cameras before citywide mechanical deactivation on November 13, 2025. The first camera was installed on March 3, 2025, the second on May 26, 2025, and new cameras continued to be added through October 1, 2025.

The same city Q&A says Woodburn's first-year cost was $96,000, with a recurring yearly cost of $84,000. It also says Woodburn's Flock network had a 30-day retention period for photos, after which they were automatically deleted.

The cameras were not sold as traffic enforcement. The city Q&A says Woodburn's cameras were not equipped with speed detection, did not use facial recognition, and captured license plate information plus vehicle characteristics such as make, model, color, accessories, date, time, and direction of travel.

Why the city paused the system

Woodburn Independent reported that the City Council paused the system after residents spoke at the November 10, 2025 council meeting and warned that license plate data could be used by federal agencies against immigrant and working-class communities.

At the time, city officials said the system was configured so access was limited to Woodburn Police and other Oregon law enforcement agencies. The city also said it would conduct a comprehensive review during the pause.

That is the key setup. Residents were not only asking whether Flock cameras work. They were asking whether the city's access limits were actually enforceable once Woodburn joined a larger Flock network.

What the audit found

Woodburn's impact assessment says 3,318,618 total searches were conducted on Woodburn's camera network during the full activity period. Of those, 0.78% were by non-federal Oregon agencies, 99.04% were by non-federal out-of-state agencies, and 0.18% were by federal agencies.

The report is careful about what a search means. It says a reported Flock search does not prove results were found, only that the network was queried for matches. It also says the overwhelming majority of searches were not exclusive to Woodburn, because agencies almost always cross-searched multiple agency networks.

Still, the federal-access fact is plain. The audit says federal agencies made 6,089 searches on Woodburn's Flock cameras. Table 14 lists agencies including Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, ATF offices, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and other federal entities.

The National Lookup problem

Woodburn's impact assessment says Flock granted broad search capabilities to federal agencies during a 2025 trial period, beyond solely the National Lookup feature. It also says no federal agency searches occurred after June 24, 2025, which the report said likely coincided with the end of that trial period.

The report defines Statewide or National Lookup as a license plate search that can run statewide or nationwide. The important line is the permissions structure: only agencies with Lookup enabled can use the feature, and in turn their systems become searchable to lookups conducted by other agencies.

That is why a local setting can become a national policy issue. If a city enables the wrong network feature, local plate data may become reachable far beyond the city even when officials believe they are running a local system.

The city also found police value

Woodburn's own report did not say the cameras were useless. It said Woodburn Police used Flock for 354 of 1,910 department investigations while the system was available. Of the 115 investigations where officers stated an outcome, 70.43% said Flock contributed to the investigation.

The city Q&A says Flock directly led to 16 arrests, nine recovered stolen vehicles with an approximate $40,000 value, and seizures of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. The impact assessment also said reported felonies and misdemeanors decreased during the March through October period compared with the same period in 2024, while noting it was unknown whether Flock or other factors caused the change.

That matters because Woodburn is not a simple anti-camera story. It is a governance story. A tool can help police cases and still lose public trust if residents believe the real access rules were different from what they were told.

How the program ended

KATU reported that Woodburn permanently disbanded its Flock Safety camera network after concerns over federal access. According to the station, Woodburn Communications Manager Maricela Guerrero said the city ended its contract with Flock Safety at the end of April 2026, and Flock confirmed all license plate reader cameras had been removed on May 13, 2026.

Woodburn Independent had earlier reported that the cameras remained powered off after the November pause, with no clear indication of when or whether the program would return.

The sequence is important for other cities: residents raised the concern, the city paused the system, the audit confirmed federal access had touched the network, and the cameras were ultimately removed.

What other cities should learn from Woodburn

Before approving Flock cameras, a city should ask whether National Lookup, Statewide Lookup, reciprocal sharing, partner agency searches, federal trial programs, and broad network searches are enabled or disabled. It should also ask who can change those settings and how quickly council would be notified.

The city should require monthly audit reporting that separates local searches, in-state partner searches, out-of-state searches, federal searches, searches that returned results, and searches that uniquely targeted the city. A single total search count is not enough.

Most of all, officials should avoid promising more control than the architecture can prove. Woodburn's lesson is blunt: if residents are told federal agencies cannot access the system, the audit logs need to prove that before the cameras go live.

The bottom line

Woodburn's Flock camera story is the public-trust version of the ALPR debate. The city had documented police benefits, but the audit showed the network was broader than residents expected.

For Flock buyers, the hard question is not only whether the camera can solve cases. It is whether the city can prove who searched the data, why they searched, whether results came back, whether the search uniquely targeted the city, and whether federal or out-of-state access is truly blocked.

If a city cannot answer those questions in public, Woodburn shows what happens next. The program becomes less about crime solving and more about whether the city can still control the system it bought.

Sources used

City of Woodburn, Flock Safety Cameras Impact Assessment, revised February 2, 2026: https://www.woodburn-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3298/Flock-Impact-Assessment-FINAL-2-3-26

City of Woodburn, Woodburn's Flock Safety Cameras Questions and Answers, February 3, 2026: https://www.woodburn-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3299/Flock-Public-Q-and-A-FINAL-2-3-26

Woodburn Independent, Border Patrol, DHS accessed Woodburn Flock camera data, city audit shows, February 26, 2026: https://woodburnindependent.com/2026/02/26/border-patrol-dhs-accessed-woodburn-flock-camera-data-city-audit-shows/

Woodburn Independent, Woodburn suspends Flock Safety license plate cameras amid concerns of federal ICE enforcement, November 11, 2025: https://woodburnindependent.com/2025/11/11/woodburn-suspends-flock-safety-license-plate-cameras-amid-concerns-of-federal-ice-enforcement/

KATU, Woodburn shuts down Flock Safety camera network after concerns over federal access, June 26, 2026: https://katu.com/news/local/audit-confirmed-federal-agencies-accessed-woodburn-flock-safety-camera-network-portland-oregon-immigration-enforcement-department-of-homeland-security