According to documents disclosed from public records requests, dozens of California law enforcement agencies are illegally sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies. California law enforcement agencies including the California Highway Patrol (CHP), Fresno County Sheriff, Newport…
Author: Mike Katz-Lacabe
UC Merced Police Illegally Shared License Plate Reader Data
A data sharing report from a public records request we filed on March 3, 2026, revealed that the UC Merced Police Department was sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies in violation of California state law. The…
Modesto Police Illegally Shared License Plate Reader Data Since at Least 2021
The Modesto Police Department revealed that it had been sharing license plate reader data with federal agencies in violation of California state law after we filed a public records request for agencies with whom Modesto Police shared that data. In…
Kaiser Conducting Mass Surveillance of its Members
Kaiser Permanente has been conducting mass surveillance of its members for years and is sharing that information with law enforcement. Public records requests and publicly-available information have revealed that numerous Kaiser Permanente facilities in California have installed surveillance cameras that…
Freeway Shootings Increased After Millions Spent on Freeway Surveillance
The Freeway Security Network was established to reduce freeway shootings after a number of high profile freeway shootings on Interstate 80 and Highway 4 in 2016, with $3.5 million from the California State Transportation Agency. However the number of freeway…
Stingray Secrecy and the San Jose Police Department
Since 2014, San Jose has been claiming that a non-disclosure agreement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pertaining to its purchase of a cell-site simulator from Harris Corporation is completely exempt from disclosure. After more than seven years, the San Jose Police Department released…
Who’s Looking at Your License Plate Data?
There are 32 agencies that submit license plate reader data to the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), the regional fusion center for Northern California. However, many more agencies are able to access that data once it has been sent…
San Ramon Approves Massive Surveillance Increase
San Ramon, a small city in Contra Costa County with a very low crime rate, approved spending more than $1.2 million to blanket the city in automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and surveillance cameras at its April 28, 2020, meeting.…
Surveillance Equipment of Some Bay Area Law Enforcement Aircraft
Police aircraft are frequently spotted circling around peaceful protests around the country. These aircraft are typically equipped with high-powered cameras with equipment capable of recording and transmitting the video captured by the equipment. This article focuses on law enforcement aircraft…
Body Cameras Didn’t Reduce Use of Force in San Leandro
When the San Leandro Police Department tried to convince the San Leandro City Council to approve its $441,306.84 purchase of body-worn cameras in May 2014, it argued that the cameras would lead to a reduction in the use of force…