Range Media earns Key Award for Flock camera scrutiny

The Spokane, Wash.-based online news outlet Range Media was recognized recently with a Key Award from WashCOG for its investigative series about the increasing use of Flock Safety license plate cameras.

The newsroom spent five months gathering information, using the Public Records Act extensively to produce its series examining issues raised by the surveillance cameras. Its series began publication in November 2025.

George Erb, Sandra Rivera, Val Osier, Erin Sellers, Luke Baumgarten, Lunell Haught, Daniel Walters, Pascal Bostic, Aaron Hedge, Daisy Zavala Magaña and Yong-Yu Huang.  == Photo by Sandra Rivera, Range Media

One story recounted the case of a Johnson County, Texas, sheriff's deputy who searched Flock cameras nationwide -- Spokane County included -- looking for a woman who allegedly gave herself an abortion.

Another story exposed the numerous unusual searches of the local Flock database,  including a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy who search for "City d ass 2." Range staffer have no idea what that was about.

In December, Range published a story about the likely policy debates over Flock license-plate readers during the upcoming legislative session.

At the end of last year the newsroom published all of records it had compiled over the course of the series. They include an enormous file of more than 2 million searches of Spokane County cameras over a six-month period. Other records came from Airway Heights, Cheney, Liberty Lake and Spokane Valley.

Range also took the additional step of advising readers how to request their own data on Flock cameras. The newsroom provided links to the records-request portals of local agencies that use the devices.

WashCOG board members Lunnell Haught and George Erb presented the Key Award to the Range Media staff who produced the comprehensive series; the outlet’s reporting on Flock camera issues continues. Newsroom staff and interns as well as community well-wishers gathered for a late summer terrace party for the celebration.

“Range has grown in the past six years,” Haught said. “It began as the brainchild of editor Luke Baumgarten as an online service owned by the Spokane Workers Cooperative, and today collaborates with eight other news organizations.” She notes that Range Media takes its watchdog role seriously, such as providing links to livestreams of public meetings so residents can attend in person or electronically.

Since the series, Range Media has continued its coverage, tracking additional deployment of Flock cameras in Spokane County and potential regulatory issues. Flock camera issues have also been discussed on the news site’s podcast.

WashCOG presents Key Awards periodically to a person or organization who has done something notable for the cause of open government.