With scant transparency, California police departments are spending millions on surveillance technology including license plate readers. Reporters and civil rights groups are meeting stiff resistance when they try to learn the details of department policies, practices and expenditures. (Pasadena Weekly, December 11, 2014, by Andre Coleman)
The Electronic Freedom Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed an appeal in October of a Superior Court ruling that the Los Angeles Police Department was not required to surrender a week’s license plate reader data, over 3 million plates. The department said the data was part of an ongoing investigation. The investigation includes every car in Los Angeles, an unprecedented, monumental investigation. (EFF, October 15, 2014, by Dave Maass)