California AG Sues El Cajon Over Out-of-State License Plate Database Searches

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed suit against the city of El Cajon and its police department, alleging that officers unlawfully accessed an automated license plate reader (ALPR) database on behalf of out-of-state agencies — a move that, if proven, directly violates California law.

According to Bonta’s office, El Cajon officers used the Flock Safety ALPR system to search license plate data for police in 26 other states. The Flock database doesn’t just log plate numbers — it stores timestamps, locations, and images of every car captured by its cameras. That data trail allows law enforcement to reconstruct a person’s movements, raising deep questions about privacy and surveillance overreach.

The Legal Fight

California law explicitly prohibits state or local law enforcement from using ALPR systems to conduct searches on behalf of federal agencies or police outside of California. The lawsuit argues that by granting out-of-state officers access — even indirectly — El Cajon police are violating those safeguards.

Bonta’s petition asks the court to block El Cajon from continuing the practice and to confirm his interpretation of the law. The filing emphasizes that despite repeated warnings, El Cajon officers “have allowed searches to continue,” showing either defiance or disregard of state directives.

“There is controversy over whether the law bars these searches,” the petition acknowledges — but the state is moving to settle the question in court.

The Technology in Question

Flock Safety, the Georgia-based company behind the technology, has rapidly expanded its footprint across the United States. Its license plate reader cameras are now mounted in more than 6,000 cities and towns nationwide, with police departments increasingly leaning on the technology for everything from stolen vehicle recovery to major crime investigations.

But the system has also been used in ways critics call dangerous and unconstitutional. Civil liberties groups have documented ALPR data being pulled by law enforcement to track undocumented immigrants, abortion patients, and other vulnerable groups. Once exported across state lines, the data often escapes California’s stricter privacy laws, leaving residents exposed to policies in states with radically different enforcement priorities.

The Trust Problem

“To protect public safety, you need public trust,” Bonta said in a prepared statement. “When information about Californians leaves the state, we no longer have any say over how it is used or shared.”

That statement strikes at the core of the controversy: surveillance technology without limits undermines public confidence. Residents may comply with local privacy protections, only to discover their data is freely accessed in states where political agendas override civil liberties.

Neither the El Cajon Police Department nor city officials responded to requests for comment.

TRJ Verdict

The lawsuit signals a new escalation in the battle over surveillance infrastructure. California, home to some of the nation’s strongest privacy laws, is making clear that data sovereignty does not stop at the border. If ALPR records are allowed to flow across state lines unchecked, they become a national surveillance asset, open to interpretation and abuse by other jurisdictions.

For El Cajon, this case is about more than compliance — it is about accountability. By allegedly conducting searches for 26 outside states, the city’s police department is being positioned as a gateway that undermines California law itself.

For Californians, the ruling will determine whether local privacy protections have teeth — or whether out-of-state interests can continue to exploit the reach of a surveillance system built within their own neighborhoods.

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