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 response to our public records request for license plate reader data sharing information in February 2026, the Modesto Police Department changed its sharing configuration before providing the requested records.
California law enforcement agencies are prohibited from sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies under SB 34, which went into effect in 2016.
On February 7, 2026, we filed a public records request with the Modesto Police Department for “A list of all agencies/organizations that share data with the Modesto Police Department and with whom the Modesto Police Department shares data in Vigilant’s (AKA Motorola) LEARN system, included in the Agency Data Sharing Report (if applicable).” The City of Modesto requested a 14-day extension on February 19, 2026, to “consult with another agency having substantial interest in the request (such as a state agency), or among two or more components of the local agency (such as two city departments) with substantial interest in the request.”
On March 12, 2026, the Modesto Police Department provided two documents (26-119 Detections Received report.txt and 26-119 Detections Shared report.txt) and noted that the following federal agencies had been removed from data sharing in order to comply with California Civil Code § 1798.90.55 (which prohibits sharing license plate reader data with state and federal agencies):
- U.S. Forest Service
- U.S. Park Police
- IRS Criminal Investigations
- San Diego Sector Border Patrol
- MCL Barstow CID
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- U.S. Marshals Service
To find out what happened, we filed another public records request for audit logs that showed that the agency data-sharing change was made by Motorola employee Jacques Lilavois (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacques-lilavois-a53a1417) on February 23, 2026.
On March 13, 2026, the Modesto Police posted to its Facebook page:
Community Notice Regarding Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Data Sharing
The Modesto Police Department recently identified an issue related to the configuration of data-sharing connections within our Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) system. During a detailed review conducted as part of preparing a Public Records Act response, we found that several federal agency connections remained active despite prior efforts to align the system with current legal requirements.
Under California Civil Code § 1798.90.55, ALPR data sharing is limited to California public agencies. Upon identifying the issue, we promptly disabled and removed the affected connections.
The agencies included:
- U.S. Forest Service
- U.S. Park Police
- IRS Criminal Investigations
- San Diego Sector Border Patrol
- MCL Barstow CID
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- U.S. Marshals Service
Following this review, we have taken additional steps to ensure full compliance moving forward.
We have since:
- Discontinued the identified sharing connections
- Conducted multiple verification reviews to confirm that no out-of-state or federal sharing remains active
- Implemented mandatory monthly documented compliance audits
- Strengthened policy language to clearly define legal sharing limitations
- Elevated administrative oversight of the ALPR program
Later on the same day that the Modesto Police posted on Facebook, the Modesto Bee published an article summarizing the Facebook post by the Modesto Police Department
According to the current Modesto Police license plate reader policy (updated July 2016), “ALPR system audits should be conducted on a regular basis.” We have requested a copy of these audits, but given our experience requesting similar audits from other police departments and how the illegal sharing was only discovered as part of our public records request, we do not expect a substantive response to our request for these records.
Although we have not confirmed when the illegal sharing of license plate reader by the Modesto Police Department began, we know that it dates back to at least September 16, 2021, based on an Agency Data Sharing Report. This document shows that the Modesto Police Department was sharing license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies in 2021, including Border Patrol, US Forest Service, US Marshals Service, ATF, HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), FBI, HSI (Homeland Security Investigations), and US Postal Inspection Service. Modesto Police purchased stationary license plate readers from Vigilant Solutions (now Motorola Solutions) in October 2018 and have likely been illegally sharing license plate reader data since then.