Law Enforcement Use Of ‘FLOCK’ Camera Surveillance in Oklahoma Does Not Protect Our Constitutional Rights
Friday morning at 9am on the regular ROPE Report podcast, Michael and I welcomed Oklahoma Representative Tom Gann and former Logan County Commissioner, Marven Goodman, to talk about law enforcement surveillance of Oklahoma citizens through Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs). This is a HUGE topic, as there are two bills in the legislature this session that need to be stopped – SB857 and HB1626.
During October of last year, Gann and Goodman discussed the problems with Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs – of which the brand Flock Safety – is probably the best known) at an Interim Study which Michael and I and our friend, Whitney Mullica from PikeOffOTA discussed via podcast, which you can find here. During that Interim Study, the video below was included. I am including it here, because so many people say things like, “If I’m not doing anything wrong, what does it matter?” They don’t realize exactly what can happen to them if they’re surveilled. Well, this man, who was simply traveling through Oklahoma did nothing wrong and yet he was pulled over and subjected to questioning and even a warrantless search by the law enforcement officer (LEO) that conducted the stop.
Hopefully, after that short – but painful – video, you now understand the reason why ALPRs are not a viable way of policing if citizens are to keep their Constitutional rights intact.
But it’s more than that. In Oklahoma, the use of ALPRs followed the genesis of a state law that required Oklahomans to buy uninsured motorist insurance. Rep. Gann and I discuss this fact in the clip below.
So why were Oklahomans required to buy ‘uninsured’ motorist protection? We’re 28th in Oklahoma in uninsured motorist coverage EVEN WITH the cameras, so what’s the point? Maybe a revenue stream for the Oklahoma District Attorney Council (ODAC)? According to Rep. Gann, the ODAC got ‘tired’ of coming before the legislature to seek funding and utilizing ALPRs to catch people without uninsured motorist coverage provided funding outside the legislative appropriation process – a process that also provides transparency for Oklahoma taxpayers that this group now DOESN’T HAVE.
But it gets worse – LEOs aren’t even legally allowed to use ALPR data the way it was used in the traffic stop above. How is it that a law enforcement agency is using technology illegally? Kind of smarts the sensibilities a bit, doesn’t it?
In the final video clip I’m going to add here, Rep. Gann points out that he’s asked how LEOs can be using this data illegally, but he gets no answer. In addition, even if a LEO does find a crime using this technology, NO PART OF THE DATA CAN BE USED IN COURT because we don’t have laws in Oklahoma that allow LEOs to collect the data in the first place. In fact, the man in the first video, sued Oklahoma and won because of that reason.
Rep. Gann and Michael talk about the Carpenter case – where cell phone data was collected by LEOs on a citizen and used against him. He then sued the government and won in the Supreme Court because this kind of tracking via technology is a violation of so many of our Constitutional rights to privacy.
This technology is also used to capture data that is then provided to OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT entities other than the one by which it was collected. So, for example, the City of Edmond collects data from ALPRs and stores the data, which can the be used by the ATF, or another state, or the FBI or the CIA – it’s ridiculous how many agencies can be allowed to see/use the data when it’s not even lawful to collect that data on residents in the state! Often, law enforcement entities – like Edmond – refuse to release the lists of law enforcement agencies using their ALPR data to the citizens they are surveilling!
Please contact your legislators – both Senators and Representatives – and ask them to VOTE NO on both SB857 and HB1626, which seek to put ‘guardrails’ (as explained to me by House author Representative John George) around the way in which law enforcement uses ALPR cameras.
Here is some suggested wording:
Dear ___________,
Please vote not on both SB857 and HB1626, seeking to put regulations around the use of ALPR (Flock Safety) cameras for law enforcement personnel in the state.
These cameras are only authorized for one use – to determine whether residents have uninsured motorist insurance. Oklahoma is 28th in the nation in uninsured motorist coverage. Clearly, the cameras aren’t solving that problem.
In addition, it’s a violation of my right to be forced to buy insurance I can choose to buy on my own.
The legislation allowing the use of ALPR cameras must be – at least – studied and completely revised, and – at most – completely repealed from law.
Protecting the individual rights of Oklahomans is the only reason you are elected by The People. Please protect my rights by working to stop the illegal surveillance of Oklahoma citizens via ALPR cameras.
Thank you,