California police department shared license plate data with states that could prosecute residents seeking abortion: report

The Sacramento sheriff's office has been illegally sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies that could use it to prosecute someone for seeking an abortion, according to records seen by The Sacramento Bee

Information has been passed to states which have passed laws banning the procedure, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas. The information was gathered by the Bee through a public records request.

It violates a law passed in 2015 in California that bars law enforcement from sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with out-of-state authorities.

According to The Sacramento Bee, the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sent Sheriff Jim Cooper, a former Democratic assemblyman, a letter demanding that he cease and desist from sharing all ALPR data as the law requires. The data could be used by states seeking to prosecute people for crossing state lines to seek the procedure.

EFF senior staff attorney Adam Schwartz, said that automated license plate readers are “a growing threat to everyone’s privacy ... that are out there by the thousands in California.”

The readers are typically posted on highway signs or other locations and the captures are sent to a digital cloud. There are even police cars that are set up to capture the data. It's a simple process to share with any other law enforcement agency that uses the software, the Bee reported.

While it isn't likely an Oklahoma, Texas or Alabama resident would drive all the way to California to get an abortion, citizens in nearby Idaho, Utah or elsewhere might.

"The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office isn’t the only one sharing that data; in May, EFF released a report showing that 71 law enforcement agencies in 22 California counties — including Sacramento County — were sharing such data," said the report.

It violates the 2015 law. One that Sheriff Cooper voted to support.

The Sacramento Bee wrote about an initial complaint in May, and the Sheriff's Office responded: “Law enforcement agencies commonly use information from License Plate Readers (LPRs) to investigate serious crimes, such as homicide, child kidnappings, human trafficking, and drug trafficking across state borders."

It then claimed organizations like EFF “have lied that law enforcement sharing this information is an attempt to violate people’s legal rights. These false claims are intentional and part of a broader agenda to promote lawlessness and prevent criminals from being held accountable."