Privacy advocates urge council to cut funding for automated license plate readers
A smart streetlight in La Jolla File photo courtesy of city of San Diego Neighborhood advocates are asking the San Diego City Council to pull funding for license plate readers days before the city s fiscal year budget is due to be finalized Automated license plate readers ALPRs capture images of vehicles and their plates This information is then sent to law enforcement databases to scan for vehicles of interest The readers are meant to increase prevention and civilian safety but critics fear overreach by law enforcement agencies The Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Hardware San Diego Coalition started in bringing together over area organizations to advocate against surveillance systems like ALPRs The main point of contention is content privacy particularly who has access Those who are part of the coalition question whether federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Protection and Customs and Frontier Protection may be able to use the information We are deeply concerned that ALPR facts can potentially be accessed and utilized by federal immigration agencies to deport immigrant locality members Erin Tsurumoto Grassi associate director of Alliance San Diego explained in a press release Homayra Yusufi senior program strategist at the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans explained she doesn t believe San Diego has proper guardrails in place to protect communities from ICE and other agencies that may access ALPR information I think right now especially with the circumstance that happened in South Park last week we are recognizing that ICE is not something that is helpful to our communities Yusufi commented Instead she thinks funds should be redirected to locality programs On Friday the council meets to discuss budget modifications The final budget vote is scheduled for Tuesday In order to close the current budget gap the council has suggested decreases in funding for libraries recreation centers and parks Libraries and recreation centers will have reduced hours and park maintenance will be curbed in the off-season if the budget is approved ALPRs are still included in the budget Instead of continuing to use our limited materials on this harmful and expensive project the city should put the money into the things that encouragement healthy thriving and safe communities things like parks libraries and safety net services that help us take care of one another Kyra Greene the executive director for the Center on Guidelines Initiatives declared in a press release Though pleased city leaders efforts to backing immigrants Yusufi hopes the council will take them a step further by removing ALPR technologies from communities
