Arizona police departments say ICE is not using their license plate scanners
An automated license plate reader sits inside a fake cactus at a Paradise Valley roundabout. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
A license plate scanning tool that is marketed to be used to combat car theft or find missing people is now being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some Arizona police departments have access to the technology, but say that ICE hasn't requested to use it.
First reported by 404 Media, local police around the country have been using an AI-powered automatic license plate reader system as part of ICE investigations, essentially giving the agency access to a tool for which they don't have a federal contract.
The automatic license plate reader, or ALPR for short, camera systems gather data from license plates that can then be flagged or saved to databases. ALPR data can also reveal a lot about a person's movements, and 404 Media found that the system was used in Texas to track a woman after she had an abortion.
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The vast majority of the camera monitoring systems in Arizona are used in the Phoenix area, with some in more rural areas and near the border. The Arizona Mirror reached out to nine law enforcement agencies that use the cameras, sold by a company called Flock, to ask if they had received requests from ICE and if they use Flock's ALPR Nova tool.
The Nova tool came under scrutiny after 404 Media reported it had been using data obtained through security breaches and not just data from public records. Since the reporting, Flock said it will no longer use the hacked data.
The El Mirage, Buckeye, Apache Junction and Casa Grande police departments all told the Mirror that they do not use the Nova tool and that ICE has not requested their data.
'We have not received any requests from ICE for any of our data. Border Patrol and HSI both receive our alerts for things such as stolen vehicles or wanted subjects,' Casa Grande Chief of Police Mark McCrory said in an email to the Mirror. 'They can't access our data other than receiving these alerts.'
A spokesperson for the Scottsdale Police Department said it does not use the Nova tool but was 'unaware' whether ICE had made any data requests and suggested the Mirror make a public records request to obtain more information.
The La Paz, Maricopa, Graham county sheriff's offices and the Somerton Police Department did not respond to the Mirror's requests for comment.
The reporting by 404 Media was published as law enforcement agencies across the nation and in Arizona face more scrutiny for their cooperation with federal authorities on President Donald Trump's deportation agenda.
At Phoenix City Hall Wednesday, activists with the progressive group Poder in Action delivered a citizen petition to the city requesting the Phoenix Police Department quit working with ICE. While Phoenix Police do not use the Flock camera system, they do work with ICE in other capacities and have an ALPR program.
The Arizona Republic reported that the majority of arrests in the metro area that led to ICE deportation actions came from Phoenix Police. State lawmakers have been seeking to force local law enforcement to work more with ICE.
During a Wednesday meeting, Phoenix City Councilwoman Anna Hernandez brought up the 404 Media report and asked Police Chief Dennis Orender if Phoenix Police shares its ALPR program with ICE.
Phoenix Police use an ALPR system by Vigilant Solutions, one of the nation's largest ALPR vendors and one used by several other law enforcement agencies in the state.
Orender said that if an 'approved entity' made a request for data from the database then they could get access but stressed that it does not provide information on 'registration and ownership of the vehicle' just where it was at a 'point in time.'
Councilwoman Kesha Hodge Washington also voiced similar concerns, and mentioned the 404 Media report about the Texas cop who used ALPR data to track a woman who had gotten an abortion.
'What protocols are being set up to ensure the privacy of our Phoenix residents?' Washington asked.
Orender said that the agency has policies to protect privacy but when Mayor Kate Gallego asked him if anyone was doing 'spot checks' to make sure no one was making 'queries for their ex-wife,' Orender said he would have to come back on June 18 with an answer.
Poder Co-Executive Director Ben Laughlin hopes that petitions like the one his organization presented to the council on Wednesday will help keep people from being part of the 'deportation pipeline.'
'The deportations are resulting from stops, basic interactions that are pushing folks into the Fourth Avenue Jail where they're interacting with ICE,' Laughlin said. He added that he hopes the impact of the petition would help limit Phoenix Police from engaging in racial profiling like it did in the past.
Laughlin also said he hopes that local politicians, who said they wouldn't cooperate with Trump's deportation agenda, stay true to their word.
'We also need elected officials to follow through on the promises that they made,' Laughlin said.
The Phoenix City Council asked that police come to its June 18 meeting with a plan to ensure that use of the ALPR data is audited and to have better answers to their questions about how the data is used.
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