The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU of Wisconsin have filed a petition asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule that the state constitution requires a warrant for retrospective searches of automated license plate reader databases. The filing targets ALPR database searches conducted by law enforcement agencies in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay.
Religious organizations challenge surveillance
EFF stated that it is representing the Wisconsin Council of Churches alongside an individual pastor based in Green Bay. The petition argues that the state's constitution demands judicial warrants before police can retrospectively search aggregated vehicle location databases.
According to EFF, religious institutions and officials hold a heightened interest in location privacy due to sensitive activities they facilitate, such as religious worship, confidential counseling, pastoral care, and community support. The group added that churchgoers have a privacy right against police monitoring when they attend prayer, addiction counseling, or survivor meetings.
Scale of automated plate tracking
The petition states that ALPR systems across Wisconsin record driver movements during sensitive activities, including medical appointments, 12-step recovery meetings, protests, and political gatherings.
EFF claimed that law enforcement agencies collect, store, share, and aggregate this data to track the movements of individuals and entire communities retrospectively, conducting searches that would have been cost-prohibitive or impossible prior to ALPR technology.
Growing legal scrutiny on ALPR databases
The Wisconsin action marks EFF's second lawsuit challenging warrantless ALPR searches, following its case SIREN v. San Jose.
EFF noted that earlier in the month, a federal court in Oklahoma became the first court to suppress evidence from a warrantless ALPR search, ruling that the technology represents a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance.
Key facts and where they come from
- EFF and the ACLU of Wisconsin filed a petition asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to require warrants for retrospective ALPR database searches.
EFF joined the ACLU of Wisconsin in filing a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, asking it to rule that the state’s constitution requires a warrant for retrospective searches
- The legal petition focuses on ALPR database searches by police departments across four Wisconsin cities.
used by law enforcement in four cities: Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay.
- The petitioners represent a state religious council and a local pastor.
We represent a religious organization, the Wisconsin Council of Churches, as well as an individual pastor in Green Bay.
- A federal court in Oklahoma recently suppressed evidence gathered from a warrantless ALPR search.
Earlier this month, a federal court in Oklahoma became the first to rule that ALPRs are a “type of indiscriminate mass surveillance” and suppress evidence from a warrantless ALPR search.
