Latest news with #FlockSafety
Axios
2 days 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.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Texas man arrested after license plate reader cameras detected stolen car
Jun. 26—License plate reader cameras led to the arrest of a 27-year-old Texas man who allegedly stole a car overnight. Newton Police Department was notified of the stolen vehicle's whereabouts within city limits by Flock Safety cameras, which allowed officers to locate the car and apprehend the suspect. Matthew Hensley, of Plano, Texas, has been charged with second-degree theft, which is a Class D felony. The vehicle was a 2016 Nissan Altima registered in Colorado. According to the criminal complaint obtained by Newton News, the police found the vehicle parked at a gas pump. Security footage showed Hensley exiting the driver's seat, suggesting he was indeed operating the stolen vehicle, which was identified to have less than $10,000 in value. Second-degree theft is when a person steals property valued between $1,500 and $10,000, or a vehicle valued under $10,000. Police say after Hensley was read his Miranda warnings he admitted to taking the car overnight. He has since been charged and jailed. Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess said that since the implementation of the license plate reader technology in 2024, the police department has experienced measurable success in both solving and preventing crime. Over the past 18 months, the license plate reader alerts have directly contributed to: —Recovering of stolen vehicles. —Gathering of vital investigative leads and the apprehension of suspects in over 30 criminal cases, including those involving outstanding arrest warrants, property crimes, violent offenses and narcotics investigations. —Providing leads in location missing persons. "This technology has proven to be a valuable investigative tool, helping our officers act more quickly and effectively when time is critical," Burdess said. "While LPRs are a powerful resource, we remain deeply committed to protecting the privacy and rights of our residents." All license plate reader data is stored securely, used strictly for legitimate law enforcement purposes and retained in accordance with stringent departmental and legal protocols, Burdess added. These systems are not used to track individuals, but rather to support investigations focused on criminal activity. "LPRs are not a substitute for professional police work, but they are a force multiplier," Burdess said. "They enhance our ability to respond to incidents swiftly, investigate more efficiently and, ultimately, keep our community safe."
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Yahoo
Tacoma police release details on how toddler subject to AMBER Alert was found
Tacoma police released additional details Monday about the search that unfolded after a 2-year-old girl went missing Saturday, leading to her safe return hours later. Authorities activated an AMBER Alert across the state a little over two hours after a woman called to report her daughter, Delilah Everett, couldn't be found in or around a residence in the 4200 block of South Prospect Street, according to a police news release Monday. The alert was canceled that afternoon. Police announced that Delilah had been returned to her family unharmed and they were questioning a man in custody, The News Tribune reported. The Tacoma Police Department initially posted on Facebook that a man was suspected of taking the girl in his car after entering a fast-food restaurant at 4112 S. Steele St. at 9:10 a.m. Saturday. A man who wrote that he is Everett's father posted a reply to the Police Department's post Saturday afternoon, saying that he is grateful for the man who took the girl and that the man saved his daughter. The father declined to comment when The News Tribune reached him via direct message Monday, saying he had already talked to several other news teams, but said he would inform The News Tribune if he has a statement in the future. Here's how police found the toddler, according to the news release: ▪ 9:30 a.m: A call came in from a mother who said her child was missing from a residence in the 4200 block of South Prospect Street. An employee at a nearby business called to report that a man recently entered the business, saying he found the child alone outside and was looking for her parents. When the employee told him that police would be called to help, the man left with the child in his silver sedan. Police began searching for the child and the man based on surveillance footage from the business. Officers checked nearby police stations and the Tacoma Mall, contacted local hospitals and Tacoma Fire stations and ran searches through Flock Safety systems and Automated License Plate Reader technology for the man's vehicle. The search was unsuccessful. ▪ 9:52 a.m.: Suspecting a child abduction, the police patrol shift commander activated the department's Child Abduction Response Team (CART), which includes criminal investigators and personnel from various agencies trained to 'quickly and effectively recover a child who has been abducted, or who is missing under suspicious circumstances by utilizing a team of trained personnel.' ▪ 10:30 a.m.: CART members began arriving on scene and were briefed on the situation as patrol officers continued the search. ▪ 11:42 a.m.: In the absence of new information about the child's location or why she was taken, the Washington State Patrol issued an AMBER Alert across the state notifying the public of the missing child. The alert said the girl was last seen walking on South Steele Street before a man drove away with her toward 38th Street, The News Tribune reported. 'Within minutes, dozens of calls came in from community members,' the news release said. ▪ 11:50 a.m.: A caller provided authorities with 'key identifying information' about the man seen with the missing child. ▪ 12:06 p.m.: Based on the caller's information, police located the man's address, where they found the missing child. Police took the man into custody and interviewed him at police headquarters. Police also interviewed the man's friends and family. Police booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on an outstanding warrant and forwarded their investigation to prosecutors for a charging decision. The investigation is still active, and police might share further updates after a charging decision. 'The Tacoma Police Department would like to thank the community and our agency partners for their swift assistance during this incident,' the release says.
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
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Texas sheriff's office accessed Mount Prospect license plate data in immigration searches, police say
The Brief The Illinois Secretary of State's Office informed Mount Prospect of their data, as well as other Illinois law enforcement agencies,' was accessed through the National Lookup feature via Flock Safety by other law enforcement agencies for immigration enforcement purposes. The Johnson County Sheriff's Department in Texas utilized the feature, accessing the data from over 83,000 cameras around the country, including Mount Prospect's. Mount Prospect has since opted out of the program. MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill. - A Texas sheriff's department accessed license plate reader data from Mount Prospect police as part of immigration enforcement efforts, in violation of Illinois law, authorities said. What we know The Illinois Secretary of State's Office informed Mount Prospect that its data—and that of other Illinois law enforcement agencies—was accessed through the National Lookup feature via Flock Safety by other law enforcement agencies for immigration enforcement purposes. This is a violation of Illinois law, according to authorities. Police said the investigation also revealed that other law enforcement agencies conducted 262 immigration-related searches on Mount Prospect's data. The Johnson County Sheriff's Department in Texas utilized the feature, accessing the data from over 83,000 cameras around the country, including Mount Prospect's. Mount Prospect has since opted out of the program. 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", said Chief of Police Michael Eterno "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," said Chief Eterno. Flock Safety said it is tightening access to the Illinois data. The Source Details for this story were provided by the Mount Prospect Police Department.
