A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging San Jose\u2019s network of license plate reader cameras.<\/p>\n
In a Sept. 2 ruling, Judge Jeffrey El-Hajj rejected arguments that the city\u2019s practice of allowing police to use data from its more than 500 automated license plate readers violates individual privacy rights.<\/p>\n
The judge cited a 2024 ruling by California’s 4th District Court of Appeals regarding San Diego traffic\/streetlight surveillance cameras, which found that individuals lack a reasonable expectation of privacy for movements on public streets.<\/p>\n
Plaintiffs had asked the court to restrict access to the camera data by requiring law enforcement agencies to first obtain a warrant before conducting a search.<\/p>\n
On San Jose\u2019s official website, the city says it \u201cuses parking compliance cameras to photograph, document, and file parking violations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of the parking compliance cameras is to better enforce certain parking regulations.\u201d the city says.<\/p>\n
The city \u201ccan only utilize the parking compliance cameras to take pictures and report the license plate numbers of vehicles violating city parking rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city specifically prohibits from using the data on the \u201cparking compliance cameras\u201d to:<\/p>\n
Investigate immigration status;
\nMonitor people engaging in legal activity;
\nActively monitor for law enforcement purposes.<\/p>\n
However, the city\u2019s \u201cparking camera\u201d policies include an exception that police have used effectively and repeatedly to solve crimes \u2013 most recently last month when cameras identified a vehicle that two Texas men had posed as delivery workers to conduct multiple crimes in the South Bay, leading to their arrest.<\/p>\n
The exception says that \u201cwhile law enforcement may request access to previously stored footage, law enforcement is not actively monitoring any data collected by the object detection solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the city revised its camera data policies to limit the time it can retain camera images to 30 days.<\/p>\n
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