EFF, ACLU Sue San Jose Police Over Improper Use of License Plate Readers
The city of San Jose’s police department’s practice of using automated license plate readers (ALPRs) to conduct location searches without obtaining a warrant beforehand violates California's constitution, privacy advocates alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday. The suit also complained that the department holds drivers' data for a year.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California filed the suit in California state court on behalf of the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
ALPRs are “high-speed, computer-controlled cameras that automatically capture images of the license plates of every driver that passes by,” even if there is no “suspicion that the driver has broken the law,” said EFF in a Tuesday release. The group described ALPRs as “invasive mass-surveillance technology.”
The complaint said San Jose “has blanketed its roads with nearly 500 ALPRs,” which “automatically retain the locations of drivers for an entire year.” The police department often searches its ALPR location database without a warrant, with public audit documents revealing it “searched for driver locations 261,711 times between June 5, 2024 and June 17, 2025.”
Though other California agencies have ALPR systems, “few retain the locations of drivers for an entire year like San Jose,” and none have as many ALPRs as San Jose, making it stand “apart in its invasiveness,” the lawsuit argues.
Since the state constitution “guarantees the people’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures as well as the people’s inalienable right to privacy,” the police department’s actions are in violation of the law.
CAIR-San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo said,“This is not just about data or technology -- it’s about power, accountability, and our right to move freely without being watched.” Billoo added, “San Jose’s mass surveillance program violates the California Constitution and undermines the privacy rights of every person who drives through the city.”
Added SIREN Executive Director Huy Tran, "The right to privacy is one of the strongest protections that our immigrant communities have in the face of these acts of violence and terrorism from the federal government." A "simple rule" can protect residents' privacy, he said: "Access to the data should only happen once approved under a judicial warrant.”
In early October, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed a lawsuit against the city of El Cajon for sharing ALPR data with federal and out-of-state agencies, in violation of a 2015 state law (see 2510030046).
The San Jose police department didn't respond to a request for comment.