Despite some public backlash and a lawsuit from the California Attorney General, El Cajon City Council members made it clear Tuesday that they have no plans to stop sharing license plate surveillance data with out-of-state police agencies.
Mayor Bill Wells said at the council’s regular public meeting that the city will only stop the controversial practice if a state judge orders them to do so.
El Cajon is the only police department in California that shares data from its automated license plate reader (ALPR) system with law enforcement agencies outside the state, according to Attorney General Rob Bonta.
A recent KPBS investigation revealed that data collected in El Cajon has been used in hundreds of immigration-related searches nationwide. California sanctuary laws generally prohibit local resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement.
To be clear, El Cajon does not share its data directly with the federal government. However, police departments in states like Texas, Virginia and Florida conduct the immigration-related searches. And sometimes they do it on behalf of federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Before Tuesday’s council meeting, a small group of protestors held a rally outside the council chambers. They chanted, “ICE out of El Cajon,” while carrying signs that read, “End Family Separation,” and “Stop Treading on Me.”
Councilman Steve Goble defended the data sharing, arguing that the benefits of the technology outweigh the concerns. For example, he said the technology helps police officers recover stolen vehicles and potentially find abducted children.
“For that reason, to protect the children, we will continue to make that data available to law enforcement officials for investigative purposes,” Goble said.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Rob Bonta asked a San Diego Superior Court judge to declare EL Cajon’s data-sharing practice illegal and order them to stop.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Police Chief Jeremiah Larson confirmed KPBS’ findings while explaining to council members how data collected in El Cajon can be used in nationwide immigration searches.
Larson credited the ALPR technology for giving officers easy access to mass amounts of data.
“If you’re trying to quickly identify where somebody might be (if they are) involved in criminal behavior, you want more cameras and more places to quickly identify where that vehicle might be,” he said.
While critics of the surveillance technology support using it to local missing children and find stolen cars, they told elected officials that they do not want outside law enforcement agencies using it to target immigrants.
A hearing for the AG’s lawsuit has yet to be scheduled.
