The California Attorney General’s Office told NSPR in an email that it would neither confirm nor deny whether it’s investigating the Chico Police Department for sharing license plate data with out-of-state and federal agencies.
The response comes after a ChicoSol investigation found the department had made the data available to agencies including ICE and Border Patrol, which violates California law.
The data is collected by Chico police’s 27 Motorola-brand automated license plate reader cameras. The cameras can track where vehicles travel, potentially revealing where people live, work and spend time.
In a press release this week, Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge said the department only shared the data with the intention to help with criminal investigations, not immigration enforcement.
But Nick Hidalgo, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), says that distinction doesn’t change the legal issue.
“There’s no specific carve out for criminal investigation,” Hidalgo said. “So even if Chico was only sharing for criminal investigative purposes, that would still violate SB 34.”
Aldridge said the department has since restricted access to the data to California agencies and is reviewing its policies and practices as a legal review is conducted.
Hidalgo says that decision could make enforcement by Attorney General Rob Bonta less likely.
“I would be surprised if the attorney general went straight to filing a lawsuit, because one of the main benefits of a lawsuit is to stop an agency from continuing in an unlawful practice,” Hidalgo said. “And if Chico PD is really trying to stop illegally sharing, then there would be less incentive for the AG to bring a case.”
Bonta has sued only one city, El Cajon, over its sharing of license plate reader data after the city repeatedly refused to stop the practice.
Concerns about law enforcement agencies sharing license plate data outside California extend well beyond Chico.Hidalgo said the ACLU has sent letters to about 70 agencies asking them to end data sharing outside the state.
