Sometimes they're up by the light bar rather than the trunk lid
Posted on 06/06/2025 12:59:36 AM PDT by Morgana
Earlier this month authorities in Texas performed a nationwide search of more than 83,000 automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras while looking for a woman who they said had a self-administered abortion, including cameras in states where abortion is legal such as Washington and Illinois, according to multiple datasets obtained by 404 Media.
The news shows in stark terms how police in one state are able to take the ALPR technology, made by a company called Flock and usually marketed to individual communities to stop carjackings or find missing people, and turn it into a tool for finding people who have had abortions. In this case, the sheriff told 404 Media the family was worried for the woman’s safety and so authorities used Flock in an attempt to locate her. But health surveillance experts said they still had issues with the nationwide search.
“You have this extraterritorial reach into other states, and Flock has decided to create a technology that breaks through the barriers, where police in one state can investigate what is a human right in another state because it is a crime in another,” Kate Bertash of the Digital Defense Fund, who researches both ALPR systems and abortion surveillance, told 404 Media. On May 9, an officer from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas searched Flock cameras and gave the reason as “had an abortion, search for female,” according to the multiple sets of data. Whenever officers search Flock cameras they are required to provide a reason for doing so, but generally do not require a warrant or any sort of court order. Flock cameras continually scan the plates, color, and model of any vehicle driving by, building a detailed database of vehicles and by extension peoples' movements.
Cops are able to search cameras acquired in their own district, those in their state, or those in a nationwide network of Flock cameras. That single search for the woman spread across 6,809 different Flock networks, with a total of 83,345 cameras, according to the data. The officer looked for hits over a month long period, it shows.
Flock users are able to run a “Network Audit” to see what other agencies have searched their cameras. The data reviewed by 404 Media shows this was a nationwide search because evidence of the search appeared in logs held by different police departments on the other side of the country from Texas. Muckrock user Rose Terse obtained two of the sets of data from Yakima and Prosser police departments in Washington via public records requests. The same search also appears on the audit report for the Mount Prospect, Illinois Police Department.
Sheriff Adam King of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office told 404 Media in a phone call that the woman self-administered the abortion “and her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital.” “We weren’t trying to block her from leaving the state or whatever to get an abortion,” he said. “It was about her safety.”
He said the search “got a couple hits on her on Flocks in Dallas,” but Flock was not responsible for ultimately finding her. Two days later the Sheriff’s Office was able to establish contact with the woman and verify she was okay, he added.
On the fact that the Sheriff’s Office performed a nationwide search and not just one in Texas, King said “that way we’re hitting everything, every possibility.” A screenshot of the data. Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at digital rights organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told 404 Media “The idea that the police are actively tracking the location of women they believe have had self administered abortions under the guise of ‘safety’ does not make me feel any better about this kind of surveillance.”
Elizabeth Ling, senior counsel for If/When/How, a reproductive rights group that runs a reproductive legal rights hotline, told 404 Media that many criminal cases they’ve seen originate after someone close to the person getting an abortion reports it to police. A research report published by the group found “about a quarter of adult cases (26%) were reported to law enforcement by acquaintances entrusted with information, such as friends, parents, or intimate partners.”
“Self-managed abortion is extremely safe. What we have found in our work and our research is that the greatest risk posed to people self-managing their abortion is state violence and criminalization. I understand wanting to keep your loved ones safe,” Ling told 404 Media. “When people have died from pregnancy or from being denied an abortion, it makes sense that people are scared that they could lose a loved one. But, when police and prosecutors have wrongly investigated and punished people for their abortion or pregnancy loss it is equally fair to fear criminalization if police are aware of your abortion. All of this shows why it is essential for people to have access to accurate information about their options and legal risk. Because no one should face criminalization for their abortion.”
Almost all abortions are illegal in Texas, where the officer who performed the search was based. But in Washington and Illinois, where at least some searched Flock cameras were located, abortion is legal before viability of the fetus and is seen as a fundamental right. Courts have repeatedly protected people’s right to travel to get an abortion, but the specter of this type of surveillance has led to widespread fear among people who have sought legal advice from abortion helplines like If/When/How.
“Got” doesn’t seem like the most apt verb in this headline.
this action by the cops is draconian.
I have not noticed any of these, but I sure will now. Thanks for the info.
“I don’t know what to think of this story. Sounds to me they were searching for something else but I don’t know.”
It’s right there in the story:
“Sheriff Adam King of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office told 404 Media in a phone call that the woman self-administered the abortion “and her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital.”
And it’s nothing like what the author appears to be insinuating.
The “nanny state” IS bad, but the point is that technology that can be used for good can also be used for bad. A double-edged sword, if you will.
They’re usually in black casings now and much smaller than the cameras I saw around 2008
(A double-edged sword,)
The exact phrase I was going to say earlier
FLOCKS plus AI plus Self Driving Vehicles plus Robots
you’ll be arrested in your house and taken away without any human contact.
Are police not supposed to use phone books from outside their state to help locate someone either?
Every day.
It just keeps on coming - it never sleeps
Absolutely!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.