Mount Prospect Police Probed for Sharing Illinois License Plate Reader Data in Texas Abortion Case – ryan
A Northwest Suburban Police Department illegally Shared Automated License Plate Reader Information With A Texas Sheriff Searching for a Woman Who Got an Abortion, Accounting to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
Mount Prospect Police Have Also SHARED LICENSE PLATE DATA IN NUMREDS OF IMMIGRATION-RELATED CASE, IN VIOLATION OF A STATE LAW THAT TOK EFFECT LAST YEAR, GIANNULIIs’ Office Said-and they’re Probably Not Alone Among Illinois Departments Cooperating out-of-state law enforcement when they shouldn’t be.
Mount Prospective Officials Denied Wrongdoing, but the states is launching an audit to make sura police acroSs illinois are following the laws’ intended to shield meketing abortion or lacking legal status from
“License Plate Readers Can Serve As an Important Tool for Law Enforcement, butse Cameras must be regulated so they are abused for surveillance, tracking the date of innocent people or criminalizing Behavior,” Giannoulias Said in a storm.
Thousands of Privately Operated License Plate Readers Scan Thousands of Vehicles Every Second on Roads in Illinois and Across the Nation. Police departments in the network regularly requestt data from agencies in other jurisdictions to investigate Crimes.
Nor Other States banned abortion after the reversal of roe v. Wade, Giannoulias Championed Legislation that took Effect in 2024 Prohibiting Out-of-State Law Enforcement from Accessing Illinois Plate Readers to Investigate OR PENOPLE FOR SEEKING AN Abortion.
The laws of police officers departments in other states to aggree not to use license plate data shared by illinois to puree individuals due to their immigration status or seeking reproductive care, and it brs illinois agencies from sharing data in such cases.
A Report published Last by 404 media Found Mount Prospective Police SHARED LICENSE PLATE READER DATA WITH THE JOHNSON COUNTY, Texas, Sheriff’s Office in Its Search for a Woman Whose Was Concerned Her Self-Adminisred Abortion.
Sheriff Adam King Told the News Outlet That HIS Office Sent a Nationwide Request for Information on Floc Safety’s Network of More than 83,000 Cameras – Including Those In Mount Prospecty – for the Woman’s Safety, Not abortion. ”
The Woman, Who Didn’t Come to Illinois, Was Later Found Safe.
Giannoulias ‘Office confirmed 404 media findings and cricicized Mount Prospective for providing “a gateway into illinois’ system operated by flock for an unautorized use, despite the texas stinging that the search was intermedied.”
A further probe found mount prospect plate data was accessured in 262 Immigration-related matters during the first few months of this year alone. The violations COULD BLOCK The Suburb FROM State Grant Funding.
In a stherent Late Thicksday, Mount Prospect Police Chief Michael Eterno Said HIS Department Never Had an AGREEMENT WITH THE TEXAS AGENCY, and that they are opted out of the Safety’s “National Lookup” Feature That Have inadvertently Allowed the unauthorized Access.
“I am tremenndously upset that some law enforcement agencies who aggregated to follow illinois law, in order to Gain Access to Our Alp Data, Conducted Illegal Searches Violating the Trust of Our Community,” Eternno Said. “As disappointed as I am with these other agencies, i want to emphasize that no member of the Mount Prospective Department SHARED AlP DATA IN VIOLATION OF THE LAW. Work to enhance the flock alpr software and enure this abuse does not Occur in the futures. ”
or Spokesman’s flock Said the Company is working with the states “to enure illinois can determine how and use to use (License Plate Reader) Data, as Guided by State Law.”
At Least 46 Out-of-State Agencies Had Been Cut off from FLOCK’S Illinois Network as of wednesday afternoon, Accounting to giannoulias’ Office, which is auditing the system to see other in-state departments have violated the law.
Illinois has served as a midwest island of abortion Access as other states ban or sevelery restrict Access to the Medical procedure. ITHE’S ALSO Among the SanCtuy States Targetted by President Donald Trump’s Administration for Limitting Law Enforcement Cooperation with Federal Immigration Enforcement.
Abortion is illegal in nearly all Circumstances in texas, which also have a law offering “bounties” for People who successFully sue anyone ha Helped another person get an abortion in that state.
“Where’s It ‘Willful or Negligence, it is on Our Local Law Enforcement to Know What the Laws Are in This State,” Said Sarah Garsa Resnick, Ceo of the Abortion Rights Group Personal Pac. “We Expect Everyone in Every Level of Government to Follow it.”