ILLINOIS — State officials have launched an investigation into a suburban Chicago police department accused of unlawfully sharing automatic license plate reader data with a Texas sheriff’s office — information allegedly used to search for a woman who had an abortion.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias confirmed Thursday that the Mount Prospect Police Department may have violated a 2023 state law that strictly prohibits the sharing of license plate data for abortion or immigration enforcement purposes.
State Law Violated Amid Texas Abortion Search
The controversy stems from a request by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas, which reportedly sought help tracking down a woman who had undergone a self-administered abortion. According to reporting by 404 Media, the sheriff sent data requests to a network of 83,000 Flock Safety cameras, including those used by Mount Prospect police.
Illinois passed a first-in-the-nation law last year to limit how law enforcement agencies can use or share license plate data. The law aims to prevent surveillance of individuals seeking legal reproductive care in Illinois, a state where abortion remains accessible despite post-Roe v. Wade restrictions in many other parts of the country.
Giannoulias has now asked the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to review the incident and launched a new audit system to track potential abuses of license plate data by law enforcement agencies statewide.
Data Also Used in Immigration Searches
In addition to abortion-related searches, Mount Prospect police also allegedly shared license plate information in cases related to undocumented immigrants. Between mid-January and April, the department made over 260 immigration-related data requests, Giannoulias said.
“These cameras must be regulated so they aren’t abused for surveillance or criminalizing lawful behavior,” the secretary emphasized in a statement.
Officials with the Mount Prospect Police Department have not publicly commented. However, violations of the law could lead to cuts in state funding, according to Deputy Secretary of State Scott Burnham.
Flock Safety and State Clamp Down on Abuses
Flock Safety, the company that operates the plate reader system, has since blocked 62 out-of-state agencies from accessing its Illinois data if their requests involve abortion or immigration keywords. The company is also implementing a filter to automatically flag and reject those queries moving forward.
To ensure transparency and compliance, the secretary of state’s office will begin auditing local police agencies and monitoring spikes in data requests — particularly those that may signal improper targeting of abortion patients or immigrants.
Wider Privacy Concerns
Privacy advocates warn that while Illinois law is strong, enforcement remains challenging.
“We’re basically just asking cops to pinky-swear they won’t misuse this data — and then act shocked when they do,” said Albert Fox Cahn, director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project in New York.
Illinois is among 22 states and Washington, D.C., with legal protections for abortion seekers. The ongoing investigation could serve as a test case for how shield laws operate when local police and out-of-state prosecutors collide.
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