The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office has requested an investigation into an Illinois police department for violating state law by sharing data from automatic license plate readers.
The attorney general has been requested by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias to conduct an investigation into the Mount Prospect Police Department. This action was taken in response to the fact that the department shared data with a Sheriff’s Office in Texas in order to locate a woman who intended to undergo an abortion, despite the fact that a state law prohibits such procedures. The sheriff’s office in Texas stated that the search was initiated due to the woman’s family’s apprehension regarding her safety.
“This law sets common sense standards and protocols for how this data should be utilized and we need to make sure that other government entities and police from out-of-state abide by our rules and our laws,” Giannoulias said Thursday during a news conference.
In 2023, Illinois enacted a law that prohibited the dissemination of license plate data for the purpose of locating undocumented immigrants or women who are seeking abortions. Access to the data and eligibility for federal and state grants may be forfeited by a law enforcement agency that violates the law.
According to Giannoulias, 46 out-of-state agencies were identified by the camera company, Flock Safety, as having unlawfully accessed the data. Accordingly, their access has been discontinued. Thousands of license plates are captured by the cameras on a daily basis.
Giannoulias stated that the cameras are intended to assist law enforcement in the prevention of criminal activity.
“When this data is being used to track people getting abortions or for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to use to track down individuals based on immigration policy, that is a very slippery slope,” said Giannoulias.
Abortion aspirants have found sanctuary in Illinois. Approximately 35,000 patients from out of state traveled to Illinois for an abortion last year, according to a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute.
According to 404 Media, the network of license plate reader data was accessed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The data, which was obtained from Danville, indicated that over 4,000 inquiries were conducted between June 2024 and May 2025.
