CHICAGO — The state of Illinois is investigating an automatic license plate reader system used in a northwest suburb after a Texas sheriff accessed the system to look for a woman who recently had an abortion.
This and hundreds of other searches, according to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, violated Illinois law.
Law enforcement agencies seeking to access license plate reader data collected in Illinois would first have to attest in writing that they wouldn’t use it to enforce other state’s laws relating to abortion or immigration.
“There is concern that other law enforcement agencies are breaking the law, whether they’re doing it maliciously or unintentionally — that’s almost irrelevant,” Giannoulias said at a Thursday news conference.
Police in Mount Prospect, a village in suburban Cook County, set up a license plate reader system in such a way that allowed other law enforcement agencies to access data without providing written attestations. In addition to the Texas case, Giannoulias’ office said Mount Prospect’s system had been searched 262 times for immigration-related reasons between mid-January and the end of April.
The Texas case came to light after a report from the tech outlet 404 Media found the search impacted more than 83,000 license plate reader cameras in multiple states.
Giannoulias also noted that 46 out-of-state law enforcement agencies conducted searches of Illinois records that violated state law.
In response, Giannoulias’ office — which generally handles policy surrounding license plate readers and data sharing — announced it had instructed Flock Safety, a company that operates license plate readers in Mount Prospect, to shut off access to the system to out-of-state agencies. Giannoulias said he is also working with the Illinois attorney general to investigate further.
The secretary of state’s office said it will also establish an auditing system and additional safeguards.
“Automatic license plate readers are there to prevent violent crime, to prevent carjacking, to find stolen vehicles and to help when there’s a kidnapping, right?” Giannoulias said. “That’s what they are used for. When this data is being used to track people getting abortions or for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to use to track down individuals based on immigration policy. That is a very slippery slope.”
Advocates for immigration rights and reproductive rights applauded the state’s move.
“Our statewide policies are only as strong as the counties, cities and municipalities that implement these policies across Illinois,” Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Executive Director Lawrence Benito said Thursday. “When we are not on the same page, the misalignment can harm those in Illinois who are merely seeking the dignity and respect not afforded to them elsewhere.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
