SFPD says license plate readers ‘improperly’ accessed by out-of-state, fed agencies

San Francisco police say they have disabled access to its network of Flock Automated License Plate Reader cameras after it was “improperly queried” for out-of-state and federal agencies.

Police said the issue was discovered through regular audits last month.

“The audit did not find any inquiries referencing immigration enforcement or reproductive rights investigations, and the federal agencies identified do not include Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security,” police said Wednesday night in a statement.

Automatic license plate reader technology provides a tracker system that helps multiple law enforcement agencies identify vehicles associated with criminal suspects, witnesses and victims, as well as point out drug trafficking, stolen vehicles and Amber Alerts. 

California law places clear restrictions on sharing license plate reader information with out-of-state or federal agencies. 

San Francisco police said their data was accessed by the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center and the Western States Information Network. 

“NCRIC and WSIN’s access to SFPD ALPR network currently remains disabled,” police said.

The intelligence center’s website says it is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s information sharing strategy and serves as the regional “all major crimes” intelligence fusion center for the federal Northern District of California.  

Some Bay Area cities ousted license plate reader camera manufacturer Flock Safety after privacy watchdogs raised concerns about federal agencies being able to access the camera data and using it for targeted surveillance. 

All the queries to SFPD’s network were simultaneously made to between 531 and 763 other law enforcement agencies, police said.

“There were 299 improper inquiries over approximately one year, which account for 0.005% of inquiries over that period,” police said.

The department said it previously authorized license-plate data sharing with NCRIC as allowed by state law. No out-of-state or federal agencies ever had direct access to SFPD’s Flock system, it said.

“Upon discovering the improper searches, Chief Derrick Lew immediately turned off NCRIC’s access to SFPD’s ALPR system and initiated an internal review,” police said.