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The current Federal administration has been using to surveillance tools like automatic license place readers (ALPR) to abduct residents and disappear people to black sites without any legal representation or due process; give cover for red states to attack people seeking reproductive and/or gender-affirming care; and surveilling and tracking those whose political views run counter to the federal administration — creating a climate of fear, desperation, and hopelessness. SB 6002 leaves all Washington residents vulnerable by unnecessarily collecting and retaining sensitive data.

ALPRs threaten the safety of our immigrant communities. ICE and Customs and Border Control have been using automatic license plate readers to track the whereabouts of Washington residents. The current Federal administration is tracking US residents including Washingtonians for the purpose of abducting residents; disappearing people to black sites and in some cases foreign detention facilities known for egregious human rights violations for supposedly civil, not criminal, infractions without any legal representation or due process and at times in violation of court orders.

ALPRs threaten the safety of those seeking protected healthcare. The rate of out-of-state abortions, those coming from other states to seek abortion in Washington, increased by 36% in 2023 and included 20 different states including neighboring Idaho and states as far away as Texas and Alabama. Many anti-abortion states, including neighboring Idaho, have passed bounty hunter laws. This creates a market and demand to hunt down this data for people believed to have gone to Seattle to get reproductive healthcare. In May of this year a police officer in Texas conducted nationwide searches of Flock’s ALPR networks including Prosser and Yakima Washington in an effort to track down a woman who had self-administered an abortion, in consideration of bringing criminal charges against her. The state of Texas has already attempted to get data from Seattle Children’s Hospital for any Texas residents receiving gender-affirming care in Washington State. The federal administration is giving cover for red states to attack people seeking reproductive and/or gender-affirming care in Washington and creating a climate of fear, desperation, and hopelessness.

ALPRs threaten the safety of anyone exercising their first amendment free speech rights. The federal administration and FBI with the assistance of local law enforcement informants have used surveillance systems and ALPR to track protestors whose political views they disagree with. Surveillance technology is a powerful tool for a fascist government aiming to chill free speech rights and violate the fourth amendment rights of its citizens. Customs and Border Patrol is amassing a nationwide system to track US Citizens using ALPR and to persecute anyone who they deem having “suspicious” travel patterns. During the “No Kings” protests in June and October of this year law enforcement agencies across the country, including Spokane Washington, used ALPR to conduct warrantless searches of protestors. Companies like Flock and Axon have profit-driven motives and are incentivized not to address the fourth amendment violations that their products facilitate. Any surveillance of citizens who have not committed a crime is dragnet surveillance and puts civil liberties at risk for all Washingtonians.

ALPRs do not reduce violence or increase safety. Any conversation around ALPRs needs to begin with recognizing this basic fact. Vendor claims about ALPRs increasing safety are not supported by independent research. Surveillance vendors use the strategy pioneered by tobacco companies in the 1950’s, to undermine and distort science. All claims by surveillance companies should be viewed with extreme skepticism since they have been caught illegally installing ALPRs, keeping ALPRs on after cities have ended their contracts, and facilitating violations of local laws around data sharing including the Keep Washington Working Act.

ALPRs contribute to community disinvestment by diverting public resources. Spending on surveillance depletes funds for food security, affordable housing, libraries, parks, health care access, education, mental health treatment, and a host of other items that reduce violence and makes our communities safer. Passage of SB 6002 will embolden municipalities without ALPRs to purchase them, and municipalities that have removed ALPRs to reinstall them directly reducing community investments.

ALPRs enable mass warrantless searches. ALPRs search every license plate they encounter, performing a volume of surveillance impossible for manual police work.

ALPRs are biased. Police vehicles spend more time in BIPOC neighborhoods. For example, in Seattle, SPD’s ALPRs surveil the Chinatown-International District 79x more than Wedgewood. ALPRs in fixed locations also result in massive racial disparities in stops by police, these stops can have catastrophic results. People who have to park on the street, including renters and people that are unhoused, get surveilled more often than wealthier people who can park in garages.

While SB 6002 attempts harm reduction, it ultimately fails to protect us. Any collection and retention of ALPR data leaves an open door for invasive location tracking of vulnerable groups, including immigrant, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC communities, as well as those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care. We have seen time and again the lies of companies like Flock and Axon, as well as Federal agencies, regarding what data they’re sharing and accessing. We know that data from WA State agencies such as the Department of Licensing have already been shared with the Federal government for civil immigration actions in violation of the Keep Washington Working Act.

The dangers of ALPRs are severe. Please do not give away our safety to for-profit surveillance companies at the expense of community autonomy. I urge you to vote NO on SB 6002 and work towards banning all ALPR systems in Washington State.