Latest news with #ALPR
Axios
a day ago
- Politics
- Axios
Illinois officials say Texas breached abortion protection law
Illinois officials say a Texas sheriff has violated a law meant to protect people seeking abortions in the state, but all parties involved say the breach was a mistake rather than ill intent. Why it matters: In 2023, Illinois became the first state to make it illegal for law enforcement to use automated license plate readers, or ALPR, to track or penalize individuals seeking abortions or to criminalize a person's immigration status. Catch up quick: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced this month that a Texas sheriff's office searched more than 80,000 ALPR cameras in search of a woman whose family said had a self-administered abortion. Suburban Mount Prospect was one of the Illinois police departments searched. Between the lines: The Mount Prospect Police Department said in a statement it didn't know the department had opted into a feature that allowed other law enforcement agencies, including the one in Texas, to search its ALPR data. What they're saying: "I am tremendously upset that some law enforcement agencies who agreed to follow Illinois law, in order to gain access to our ALPR data, conducted illegal searches violating the trust of our community," Mount Prospect chief of police Michael Eterno said in a statement. "As disappointed as I am with these other agencies, I want to emphasize that no member of the Mount Prospect Police Department shared ALPR data in violation of the law." The other side: The license plate readers' operator, Flock Safety, says since learning of this incident in May, it has blocked 47 law enforcement agencies from accessing Illinois ALRP data if it "conducted multiple searches using reasons impermissible under Illinois law." The company also launched a tool that requires a law enforcement agency to list a reason why it's searching the database, and if it's for reasons permissible by law, such as abortion, the searcher is blocked. Zoom in: Johnson County, Texas, Sheriff Adam King told 404 Media, who first reported the story, that they were searching for the woman for her safety. "We weren't trying to block her from leaving the state or whatever to get an abortion," King told the outlet. Axios left a voicemail for the sheriff but hasn't heard back.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Licence plate reader captures wanted man
OPP are using automated license plate recognition software to catch drivers who shouldn't be on the roads. (Tyler Fleming/CTV Ottawa, March 11, 2015) The ping of an Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) signalled to police the vehicle belonged to a wanted man. The Huntsville Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) pulled over the car on Friday at around 1:45 a.m. Inside the vehicle, an officer found a prohibited weapon and various drugs. A man and woman from Swastika, as well as a man from Kirkland Lake have been charged with joint possession of: Prohibited device Possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose Three counts of possession of a Scheduled 1 substance All three accused were held for a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge.
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Evanston to protect privacy of abortion, gender-care patients by limiting license plate reader tech
In response to reports of Texas officials using Mount Prospect's automatic license plate reading (ALPR) technology to track a woman who traveled to Illinois for an abortion, Evanston officials passed an ordinance that would limit data sharing in similar cases to protect the privacy of individuals seeking sensitive healthcare procedures. The Evanston City Council introduced its Health Data Protection Ordinance at its June 23 meeting to protect people seeking reproductive care or gender-affirming surgery in Evanston from being tracked and having their privacy violated. While the ordinance focuses on health care, it could also potentially prevent federal officials from tracking immigrants, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss observed. The Evanston Police Department uses license plate reading technology from Flock Safety, which also manages license plate readers for police departments in Mount Prospect and many other Illinois municipalities. Flock uses cameras to read license plates and logs the data for 30 days. It can be accessed by out-of-state law enforcement agencies with access to Flock on an opt-in basis, according to Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said in a news release that his office is investigating the technology and company after Mount Prospect's Flock license plate readers were used by Texas officials. Illinois law bars license plate reading technology to aid federal agencies to track undocumented immigrants and for out-of-state agencies to use the technology to track those who seek abortions and gender-affirming surgery. Evanston Police Sergeant Tom Giese, who manages EPD's license plate reader system, said the technology makes Evanston safer and has contributed to arrests ranging from hit-and-runs to murders. Stewart said according to Flock, the technology has followed Illinois law in Evanston. Nonetheless, Stewart said the police department has temporarily removed itself from the national opt-in look-up tool. Mayor Daniel Biss, an advocate for the proposed ordinance, said he anticipates Illinois, including Evanston, will continue to be a destination for those seeking abortions and gender- affirming surgery as bans have cropped up for both practices in nearby states. City Councilmembers Jonathan Nieuwsma and Juan Geracaris, along with Biss, spoke to reporters prior to the City Council meeting to answer questions about the ordinance. 'We don't have illusions about what role we do and don't play as a municipal government, but we also feel a really acute urgency to do whatever we can,' Biss said. Biss said prior to the ordinance's introduction that out-of-state agencies have not asked to use Evanston's license plate readers to monitor people who come to Illinois seeking healthcare that is outlawed in their home state. Nevertheless, he said he didn't want to wait for it to happen to pass an ordinance against it. 'This is what's coming,' Biss said. 'What I have learned is that if you wait for the bad thing to happen and then try to retroactively prohibit it — not only do you not solve the one individual problem of the bad thing that happened — but also you've allowed a bad habit to form, which is really, really dangerous.' Another Evanston media outlet reported that out-of-state police agencies have tapped into Flock's national look-up tool to conduct seven searches related to immigration including Evanston and elsewhere. The practice troubled several members on the dais. 'I'm not comfortable with this… what I've learned so far has not given me the comfort that I need,' Biss said. Giese said Flock's national look-up tool has assisted the department in the past when criminal suspects have fled the immediate area, and the department's ability to use the look-up tool is contingent on EPD sharing its data. 'The national look-up is not an actual search,' Giese said. 'Flock calls it a ping. So it's taking a specific license plate, running it across every camera and then Flock will be like, 'Alright, it hit in this town, in this state.'' 'Yeah, that's what I'm scared of,' Biss said. 'That's the exact thing that I think, 'Oh my God, why would we ever dream of doing that?'' 'From my experience, the national look-up tool has been very beneficial for us as a law enforcement agency for our operations,' Giese replied. 'I totally understand the concern that you bring up with it. But by eliminating it and by no longer subscribing to that, we're just focusing on the state now.' 'After discussions with several surrounding agencies, although there was misuse, it was a very small amount of misuse compared to the daily usage of Flock… less than 1% of misuse,' Giese said. Biss expressed concern about the possibility of that misuse happening in Evanston. 'Maybe just to give you some tactical advice in convincing me in the future, every time you say it's only a few examples, you move me further away from you, dramatically,' he said. 'If our attitude is like, eh, we'll just let a few instances slip by where we're helping ICE whisk people off the street, I'm done,' Biss said. Stewart disagreed with that assessment. 'That would be your opinion. I don't think we've shown you as an agency that's our attitude. We've disabled (the national opt-in lookup tool).' 'Right. Okay,' Biss said. Flock's contract is active through 2028, Giese said in response to a question from City Councilmember Bobby Burns. Corporation Counsel Alexandra Ruggie said to her knowledge, Flock has not done anything to violate its contract with Evanston which would allow the contract to be terminated early.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Giannoulias cracks down on plate reader abuse
Following reports that Texas police illegally accessed Illinois automatic license plate reader data to track down a woman for an abortion care-related matter, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced new measures aimed at preventing further abuse. In May, law enforcement authorities in Texas performed a nationwide search of more than 83,000 ALPR cameras to locate a woman they said had a self-administered abortion. Included in the search were cameras located in states where abortion is legal – including Illinois, specifically Mount Prospect in suburban Cook County. In 2023, Giannoulias spearheaded first-in-the-nation legislation making it illegal for law enforcement in other states to use ALPR cameras to track or penalize individuals seeking abortion care or criminalize a person's immigration status. 'License plate readers can serve as an important tool for law enforcement, but these cameras must be regulated so they aren't abused for surveillance, tracking the data of innocent people or criminalizing lawful behavior,' Giannoulias said. 'No one seeking legal healthcare services in Illinois should face harassment or jail – period.' 'At Personal PAC, we work hard with our partners in government, like Secretary Giannoulias, to pass laws that protect abortion in Illinois,' said Sarah Garza Resnick, CEO of Personal PAC. 'Patients rely on Illinois for abortion access that they need, and it is on us to ensure that their right to receive that care is protected in our state. We applaud Secretary Giannoulias for taking swift action in looking into the alleged violations of the ALPR data act.' 'Illinois has taken major steps that protect immigrant rights and reproductive rights, but these policies are only effective if the law is followed,' said Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant Rights. 'We thank the Secretary of State for shutting off access to out-of-state authorities and protecting all people coming through our state.' In response to this breach, the Secretary of State's office instructed Flock Safety, which operates the ALPR network in question, to immediately shut off access for the out-of-state authorities illegally using the system. The office has also contacted the Illinois Attorney General's office to investigate the matter and is establishing an audit system with additional safeguards to ensure any law enforcement entity using an ALPR in Illinois is adhering to the law. Under the act, which took effect in 2024, law enforcement agencies must attest that ALPR data will not be used to prosecute or enforce another state's laws pertaining to abortion care or immigration status. If a law enforcement agency violates this agreement, they jeopardize their access to Illinois ALPR data and eligibility for federal and state grants. In the recent case, Mount Prospect's ALPR settings provided a gateway into Illinois' system operated by Flock for an unauthorized use, despite the Texas police stating that the reason for the search was related to abortion care. Any law enforcement entity operating the ALPR must adhere to the declaration in the law and deny such requests, according to the act. Between January 14 and April 30, there were 262 searches for immigration related matters in Mount Prospect, alone. The law still allows police to use ALPR technology for investigating felonies, carjackings, vehicle thefts and missing person alerts, but it protects a person's right to abortion access and prevents attempts to criminalize a person's immigration status. Operated by private companies, ALPRs are used in every state by most metropolitan police departments to scan license plates and provide the time and location of vehicles in real time. ALPR technology allows police to read thousands of license plates per minute from cameras placed on roadways, streetlights and squad cars.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas police 'abused' license plate data for immigration search, Illinois police say
A Texas law enforcement agency reportedly used license plate data shared by a Chicago-area police department in locating a woman for immigration enforcement purposes, despite Illinois state law prohibiting such use. The Johnson County Sheriff's Office allegedly used data from Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) — also referred to as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) — through Flock Safety, a private company. The "National Lookup" feature is used by law enforcement agencies "for purposes of immigration enforcement." The Illinois Secretary of State's Office notified the Mount Prospect Police Department that it was among multiple other law enforcement agencies whose data was used by the Texas department. "The use of ALPR data collected by Mount Prospect Flock Safety cameras for this purpose does not align with the Mount Prospect Police Department's values and is a clear violation of Illinois state law," the Chicago department stated in a press release. A site called 404 Media shows the Johnson County Sheriff's Office requested data from 83,000 of Flock Safety's cameras, including those in Mount Prospect. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is requesting an investigation into the incident by the attorney general, The Independent reports. He says he is also making an audit system to prevent similar uses of ALPR data in the future. A 2023 Illinois law prohibits the sharing of license plate data to track undocumented immigrants or people seeking abortions. A total of 262 immigrant-related searches were made between mid-January and April in Mount Prospect alone, Giannoulias said. Deputy Secretary of State Scott Burnham warned that such violations could lead to the loss of state funding. Giannoulias says he requested that Flock Safety block access to 62 out-of-state agencies seeking data related to abortion or immigration. The ALPR company also created a program to flag access requests with the terms "abortion" and "immigration" and deny the requests. Finally, law enforcement agencies will be required to respect the secretary of state's audits with the goal of noting trends in certain requests, Burnham explained. "I am tremendously upset that some law enforcement agencies who agreed to follow Illinois law, in order to gain access to our ALPR data, conducted illegal searches violating the trust of our community," Chief of Police Michael Eterno said. "As disappointed as I am with these other agencies, I want to emphasize that no member of the Mount Prospect Police Department shared ALPR data in violation of the law. I realize that this misuse of Mount Prospect's ALPR data violates the trust of our community, and we as a department will continue to work to enhance the Flock ALPR software and ensure this abuse does not occur in the future." Following the incident with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, the Mount Prospect Police Department said it has made, or plans to make, several changes to prevent similar incidents in the future, including opted out of the Flock Safety "National Lookup" feature cancelled any data sharing agreement with law enforcement agencies who violated Illinois state law revoked access to Mount Prospect's ALPR data for all law enforcement agencies outside of Illinois will be updating its ALPR policy to include regular audits of the searches being conducted by internal and external users As of Friday morning, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office had not issued a public statement about the incident. The name of the individual who was the focus of the search has not been disclosed to the public. Flock Safety has released a statement amid what it calls "a misunderstanding." The ALPR company indicated contact with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office regarding the incident in Illinois, seeking to correct "misreporting" that the program was used "to target people seeking reproductive healthcare." The Sheriff allegedly told Flock Safety that this "is unequivocally false." "According to the Sheriff's office, a local family called and said their relative had self-administered an abortion, and then she ran away," Flock Safety said. "Her family feared she was hurt, and asked the deputy to search for her to the best of their abilities. Law enforcement performed a nationwide search in Flock, the broadest search possible within the system, to try to locate her quickly. Luckily, she was found safe and healthy in Dallas a couple of days later." The woman faces no charges and was never under criminal investigation, the ALPR company added, saying that Texas police were looking for her as a missing person rather than as a crime suspect. "We're grateful for the opportunity to work with Illinois officials to clarify what happened, correct misconceptions, and implement lasting improvements that uphold the trust of both law enforcement agencies and the residents they serve." — The Independent contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas police use of license plate data under investigation in Illinois
