In American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California v. Superior Court, the Supreme Court today holds that raw data from law enforcement use of automated license plate readers does not need to be disclosed under the California Public Records Act, but it holds open the possibility that anonymized or redacted data might be required. The readers — mounted on fixed structures and patrol cars — scan and analyze license plates of cars on the road to identify vehicles linked to crimes under investigation. The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Ming Chin concludes that revealing unaltered plate scan data — the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s Departments “read” over one million plates a week — would “jeopardize the privacy of everyone associated with a scanned plate.” However, the court remands the case for further analysis of whether anonymized or redacted data could be disclosed without compromising law enforcement investigation.
The court affirms in part and reverses in part the Second District, Division Three, Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal had exempted from disclosure both raw and anonymized or redacted data.
