While the Country Rejects ALPR Mass Surveillance, SF Settles for Weak Safeguards

San Francisco has chosen to continue utilizing Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) surveillance cameras despite the well-documented harms and privacy violations associated with this technology. The city's new policy falls short of providing the necessary safeguards to protect residents from the potential abuses of this surveillance tool.

ALE PR systems, such as those provided by Flock Safety, Motorola, and Axon, pose a significant threat to the privacy and civil liberties of the community. Innocent drivers are at risk of being stopped and harassed due to erroneous matches, and officers have been known to use ALPRs to stalk individuals of interest. The collected data is also accessible to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation purposes.

The city's announced measures, including warrant requirements and a 30-day deadline for data transfer, are insufficient to prevent the misuse of ALPR data. Without a warrant requirement, officers can search the stored location data without showing probable cause, risking widespread abuse. Moreover, the city's policy does not mandate the deletion of ALPR data, even though deletion is the best practice to protect individual privacy.

Transparency and documentation through improved audit logs are not a viable solution, as they only reveal abuse after the fact and do not prevent the collection of location data in the first place. Many other communities have recognized the risks of ALPR surveillance and chosen to end their contracts, and San Francisco should follow suit and end its use of these intrusive technologies.