SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties is suing the City of San Diego and the San Diego Police Department over its automated license plate readers (ALPRs).
“This is a beautiful day in America's finest city to stand up to mass surveillance,” Fredrick Carroll, the legal director for the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties, said. “We are resisting and objecting to the continued contract with Flock for ALPR and other surveillance cameras.”
Carroll announced the lawsuit on behalf of Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) on Wednesday morning in front of the Hall of Justice in Downtown San Diego.
“Legally we're stating that in Article One, Section One of the California Constitution, we are guaranteed as Californians a right to privacy,” Carroll said. “If that is to mean anything at all, it has to mean that we are not under constant surveillance.”
Carroll, those from PANA, and other community members stood together in opposition to the cameras and the technology that’s being criticized.
Pushback against these automated license plate reader cameras is nothing new in San Diego.
Those like Seth Hall with the Trust SD Coalition have voiced many concerns about the cameras and the technology.
“You may differ from me in what you think privacy is, and we might have different opinions, but the fact of the matter is our Constitution says we have a right to privacy, and that has got to mean something,” Hall said.
Now we’ve seen the cameras be used in different situations, like identifying criminals, such as an incident ABC 10News covered in March of a man being arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexual battery of a child in Bay Terrace.
And other situations, for example, police being able to find a missing man experiencing dementia, which ABC 10News covered in March 2024.
So, ABC 10News asked Carroll and Hall how they feel about the tool being used to help in these kinds of situations.
“So, if somebody out there believes that this technology could be used to benefit some small group of people or could be used to stop some kind of crime, then they probably believe that we should find some kind of version of this technology that doesn't violate the fundamental rights of all Californians at all times,” Hall said.
Carroll echoed a similar sentiment.
“So, while there are some contentions that stolen cars get found or a suspect might get apprehended, that's always after the fact. It doesn't prevent the crime,” Carroll said.
Both the City of San Diego and San Diego PD said they aren’t able to comment on potential or pending litigation. We have also reached out to Flock for comment on the lawsuit but haven’t heard back from the company at the time this article was written.
