I wholeheartedly agree with Karin Renaud’s letter (“Supporting license plate readers is a grave error,” published Aug. 13) regarding the city counsel’s flawed decision to sign a contract to collect driver’s license plate information while in Enumclaw. The first I heard about it was the Courier-Herald’s article published Aug. 6, reporting on the July 28th council meeting. One week later, this paper reports the Council is moving ahead on contracting for the cameras.

A two minute search asking for crime statistics for Washington cities returned the information that, in 2019, Enumclaw had the distinction of being the fifth-safest city in the State, out of 281 total. So far, in 2025, we are holding at 19th place, which is odd since crimes are a backward-looking statistic and I am writing this in mid-August. In 2024, we earned the 11th safest position.

In 2024, King County Sheriff had 27 small unmanned aircraft pilots and 35 UAVs, added a helicopter for $6mil, and also deploys K-9 units for enforcement, where appropriate, and they have a station in Enumclaw.

These search results would indicate the license plate readers are a solution in search of a problem. I’m afraid our city council members going for ride-alongs with outside law enforcement agencies might be an attempt to influence our representatives toward a preferred outcome, without regard for what is in the best interests of our citizenry. When public sentiment is overwhelmingly against the data collection, why is the Council moving forward on this data collection? Does it come down to the adrenaline rush experienced during a ride-along in Kent by one Council member, or the cherry-picked examples provided by the Chief? I would hope for more critical thinking from our representatives.

Since the EPD and KCS do not have expertise in this kind of data collection, outside data processors will necessarily be involved in the collection, assessment, and storage of such data. Palantir and their contracts with DHS, ICE, and other police agencies would suggest the company is perfectly positioned for such a role. The founder of Palantir is on record saying that democracy and freedom are incompatible, and corporations provide the best governing authority using capitalism as the means. Obviously, billionaires benefit immensely in societies with less freedom and more profit-taking.

So here we are: our town of 13,000 is set to assist some of the wealthiest corporations in the world access our individual movements within our city limits, providing a gold mine of information to those who want it, can merge it with other data collection systems, and exposing all of us to the risk of exposure we didn’t ask for and do not want. What could possibly go wrong?

Shawn Johnson

Enumclaw