After further review, Merced PD no longer sharing license plate data out-of-state
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The city removed an initial report and uploaded a corrected April 25 sharing report.
- California law and AG guidelines require ALPR data not be shared out of state.
- Merced PD disabled out-of-state and federal data-sharing connections after a review.
A newly published report shows the Merced Police Department is no longer sharing data from automated license plate readers with out-of-state and federal agencies.
The department first reviewed its ALPR data-sharing settings two weeks ago, after the Sun-Star learned that UC Merced was violating California law by sharing that data outside of the state.
In its initial review, MPD learned it was sharing data with non-California entities and issued a statement saying, “prior system configurations allowed data sharing with certain federal agencies. Upon identifying this issue, the Department immediately disabled the identified connections and will continue to conduct additional audits to ensure ongoing compliance.”
The department also published a data sharing report from the vendor of the ALPR devices, Motorola Services.
Despite the department’s claim that it had “immediately disabled the identified connections,” the data sharing report on the city website listed many out-of-state and federal agencies as having access to the data.
The Merced Sun-Star reached out to Merced public information officer Jennifer Flachman to confirm the list was generated and uploaded after the city’s review. Flachman said she believed the document published online was the “clean list” and “should not include agencies that were removed.”
Following the publication of the the Sun-Star story noting that it appeared data was still being shared with out-of-state and federal agencies, the city promptly removed the document from the city website.
On April 25, the city uploaded a new sharing report that no longer includes any out-of-state or federal agencies.
“The agencies that were expected to be removed were still included in the initial list. Once this was identified, the list was updated, and the corrected records were posted to the police department’s transparency hub,” said Flachman.
Public records show the department generated two data-sharing reports, the first on April 23 and the second on April 25. Flachman did not clarify whether the April 23 report still included federal and out-of-state agencies because they were missed in the initial review or because the list was generated prior to the removal of those agencies.
California law limits data sharing
Automated license plate reader technology is a tool law enforcement uses to recover stolen vehicles, locate missing persons and identify vehicles connected to violent crimes.
In California, Senate Bill 34, which went into effect in 2016, requires operators of ALPR systems to implement strict privacy and security policies, maintain access logs and protect license plate data as sensitive personal information that cannot be sold to private parties.
In 2023, the state Attorney General’s Office issued guidelines, reminding agencies of their obligation to ensure their data cannot be shared with agencies outside of California.
Sharing ALPR data concerns privacy advocates, because of its potential to unintentionally aid federal or out-of-state agencies with enforcing immigration law and abortion bans, among other things.
In response to concerns that this data could be used for immigration enforcement, a spokesperson for the Merced Police department said it understands the concerns and “takes them seriously.”
“Our focus is on protecting public safety while respecting the rights and privacy of community members,” said a spokesperson for the department, “Following the internal review, identified noncompliant data-sharing connections were disabled, including federal immigration agencies.”
The Department said it will continue to review and monitor the system to ensure it is used in accordance with the law.
