We’re Asking an Appeals Court to Require a Warrant for ALPR Searches

Sturdivant, urging the court to require a warrant for police searches of automated license plate reader data. The case stems from a series of robberies near Cleveland, Ohio, where officers used open-ended searches of the Flock and ELSAG ALPR databases to identify a suspect's car after surveillance footage revealed only its make, model, and color. The advocacy groups argue that ALPR networks are not comparable to a person observing a passing plate, describing them as a "virtual time machine" that lets law enforcement reconstruct past movements with a click. The appeal matters because a ruling could set a Fourth Amendment precedent for warrantless mass location tracking, and it follows a federal district court decision last month holding that ALPRs constitute "indiscriminate mass surveillance." The next step is the Sixth Circuit's review, with the groups seeking reversal of the lower court's decision.