TULSA, Okla. — A federal judge has ruled that a Tulsa County deputy violated the Fourth Amendment by searching license plate reader databases for a month of a woman’s travel history without a warrant, the Dallas Express reported.
On Oct. 1, U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill granted a motion to suppress evidence in the case against Melisa Susan Kyle, who faced federal charges of possessing more than 500 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
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Hill wrote that Deputy Freddie Alaniz began following Kyle’s rental vehicle with “no apparent reason other than” its California license plate. Alaniz then queried Flock and VehicleManager, which returned more than 50 location records from multiple states covering an entire month, according to the ruling. He then stopped the vehicle.
The government argued that drivers have no reasonable expectation of privacy in license plates and movements visible on public roads. Hill disagreed, relying on Supreme Court precedent, including Carpenter v. United States, CBS 12 reported. She wrote that police cannot “use a vast network of cameras to indiscriminately collect vehicle data, then retrieve a detailed history of a person’s movements on demand without probable cause and a warrant.”
The judge found that Kyle had a reasonable expectation of privacy in “the whole of her physical movements.” She noted that such data can reveal sensitive information, including visits to medical providers, lawyers, fertility clinics, casinos or liquor stores.
The ruling does not bar all license plate reader use or individual camera scans, according to CBS 12. It addresses historical, multistate searches covering about a month.
Hill upheld the initial traffic stop. But she found that Alaniz lacked reasonable suspicion to extend it for a drug investigation.
