Grand Jury Finds Sacramento Cops Illegally Shared Driver Data

upstart writes:

Victory! Grand Jury Finds Sacramento Cops Illegally Shared Driver Data:

For the past year, EFF hasbeen sounding the alarm about police in California illegally sharing drivers' location data with anti-abortion states, putting abortion seekers and providers at risk of prosecution. We thusapplaud the Sacramento County Grand Jury for hearing this call and investigating two police agencies that had been unlawfully sharing this data out-of-state.

The grand jury,a body of 19 residents charged with overseeing local government including law enforcement, released their investigativereporton Wednesday. In it, they affirmed thatthe Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and Sacramento Police Department violated state lawand "unreasonably risked" aiding the potential prosecution of "women who traveled to California to seek or receive healthcare services."

[...] Since 2016, California law has prohibited sharing ALPR data with out-of-state or federal law enforcement agencies. Despite this, dozens of rogue California police agencies continued sharing this information with other states, even after the state'sattorney general issued legal guidance in October "reminding" them to stop.

In Sacramento County, boththe Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and the Sacramento Police Department have dismissed calls for them to start obeying the law. Last year, the Sheriff's Office even claimed on Twitter that EFF's concerns were part"a broader agenda to promote lawlessness and prevent criminals from being held accountable."That agency, at least, seems to have had a change of heart: TheSacramento County Grand Jury reports that, after they began investigatingpolicepractices,theSacramento County Sheriff's Office agreed to stop sharing ALPR data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies.

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