Krishnamoorthi leading investigation into license plate readers

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi is demanding answers from the leading provider of automatic license plate readers about the use of their cameras to gain information about immigrants and those seeking abortion services.

Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, announced Thursday he and California Rep. Robert Garcia have launched a formal investigation into Atlanta-based Flock Group Inc.

Both have written a letter to Flock Safety founder and CEO Garrett Langley outlining their concerns. They want a full accounting of all National Lookup searches involving the terms “abortion,” “ICE,” or “CBP”; contracts or communications between Flock and Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and documentation of any action taken to address misuse.

“Flock Group Inc. cannot claim to protect public safety while enabling surveillance that undermines reproductive freedom and civil rights,” Krishnamoorthi, a Schaumburg Democrat, said. “When ALPR is used to undermine local public safety laws, it erodes trust and violates the very policies meant to protect our communities. This investigation is about ensuring Americans are not tracked, targeted, or prosecuted simply for exercising their rights.”

Earlier this year, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias brought to light a case where the Johnson County, Texas, sheriff's office conducted a nationwide search for a woman who allegedly had a self-administered abortion.

The search, conducted through Flock's “National Lookup” feature on May 9 accessed more than 83,000 cameras across 6,800 networks, including cameras in Illinois. Among the cameras accessed were those maintained by the Mount Prospect police department.

State legislation prohibits Illinois license plate reader data from being used for immigration enforcement or tracking individuals seeking reproductive health care services.

Mount Prospect police Chief Michael Eterno said the village's cameras were accessed without Mount Prospect's knowledge due to the failure of a filtering feature in the Flock system to block prohibited searches.

“The cameras never should have seen those searches from us or any other Illinois law enforcement agency that had license plate readers,” he said.

As a precaution, Mount Prospect cut off access to all agencies outside of Illinois.

“The only solace we take is that none of the cars that were being searched for were ever in Illinois,” Eterno said. “So there was no picture of anybody's camera in Illinois to give back to these agencies.”

In June, Langley defended the company's practices and clarified the facts around the Texas case.

“I take nothing more seriously than the values we built this company upon — to give cities tools to uphold public safety, while enabling accountability and transparency,” he wrote.

He said the Johnson County sheriff indicated the woman's family feared for her health. She was found safe and healthy in Dallas days later. No charges were filed against the woman and she was never under criminal investigation, Langley wrote. Her search was classified as a “missing person.”

Flock subsequently audited all searches and “found not a single credible case of law enforcement using the system to locate vulnerable women seeking health care.”

Regarding immigration, Langley wrote that collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security occurs on serious criminal investigations unrelated to civil immigration enforcement. He added some states and jurisdictions work with federal authorities to enforce immigration offenses, while in other states they do not.

“The point is: it is a local decision. Not my decision, and not Flock's decision,” he said.

Flock created a new feature after discovering non-Illinois agencies were accessing Illinois data, he noted. Now, those searches are flagged and excluded.

Langley added his company collaborated with Illinois legislators when they passed laws prohibiting out-of-state authorities from using the equipment to search for immigrants or those seeking gender-affirming care and abortion services.