"The San Francisco Police Department is the latest California law enforcement agency to get caught sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with out-of-state and federal agencies. EFF and the ACLU of Northern California are calling them out for this direct violation of California law, which has put every driver in the city at risk and is especially dangerous for immigrants, abortion seekers, and other targets of the federal government."
"This week, we sent the San Francisco Police Department a demand letter and request for records under the city's Sunshine Ordinance following the SF Standard's recent report that SFPD provided non-California agencies direct access to the city's ALPR database. Reporters uncovered that at least 19 searches run by these agencies were marked as related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"). The city's ALPR database was also searched by law enforcement agencies from Georgia and Texas, both states with severe restrictions on reproductive healthcare."
"ALPRs are cameras that capture the movements of vehicles and upload the location of the vehicles to a searchable, shareable database. It is a mass surveillance technology that collects data indiscriminately on every vehicle on the road. As of September 2025, SFPD operates 415 ALPR cameras purchased from the company Flock Safety. Since 2016, sharing ALPR data with out-of-state or federal agencies-for any reason-violates California law ( SB 34)."
San Francisco Police Department provided non-California and federal agencies direct access to its ALPR database, prompting demands for records under the city's Sunshine Ordinance. Reporters found at least 19 searches labeled as related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and searches originated from agencies in Georgia and Texas, states with restrictive reproductive-health policies. ALPR cameras capture and upload vehicle locations to a searchable database and operate indiscriminately on every vehicle; SFPD runs 415 cameras purchased from Flock Safety as of September 2025. California law (SB 34) prohibits sharing ALPR data out-of-state or with federal agencies, with SB 54 adding restrictions related to immigration enforcement.
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
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