In a 7-0 vote, the Anaheim City Council approved Purchase Order Nos. 309-408212 and 309-407722 to Motorola Solutions on Tuesday night, a $736,334.32 deal for 72 Automated License Plate Readers (APLRs).
According to the city report, 11 of those cameras will be installed in the Anaheim Resort Area, including around Disneyland and the surrounding tourist infrastructure. These cameras are intended to “protect critical infrastructure, deter potential acts of terrorism, and support crime prevention efforts,” with funding in part coming from the Anaheim Police Foundation.
An additional 20 cameras will be placed throughout the city to target retail theft and support crime prevention, while 41 cameras will be deployed across the broader Orange County operational area as part of a regional surveillance network.
The system will integrate with Anaheim Police Department operations and existing regional ALPR infrastructure, with funding also supported by state grants and federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funds.
In 2012, Anaheim, on behalf of the Anaheim/Santa Ana Urban Area Security Initiative (ASAUA), conducted a competitive request for proposals for an ALPR vendor, ultimately awarding the contract to Motorola Solutions (then Vigilant Solutions), citing its web-based service model as a “cost-saving advantage.”
Before the Anaheim City Council met, the Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD) gathered 98 signatures 24 hours before the meeting, calling for the expansion to be stopped.
“Residents and advocates raised serious concerns about data sharing with ICE, the risk of data breaches, inaccuracies with equipment, unjust racial targeting, and the real harm this technology CAN pose,” OCCORD says in a statement published on social media.
"OCCORD’s concern is that Anaheim is significantly expanding surveillance infrastructure across the city," they tell L.A. TACO. "While ALPRs are being presented as a public safety tool, they do not only capture information connected to specific crimes. They collect and store data on the movements of everyday residents, workers, families, and visitors. That raises serious concerns around privacy, civil liberties, data retention, and who can access that information. Once this type of surveillance infrastructure is expanded, it becomes difficult for the public to know how the data is being used, how long it is being kept, and whether it is being shared beyond the city’s original stated purpose.”
L.A. TACO reached out to the City of Anaheim regarding these community concerns. Chief of Communications Mike Lyster stated:
“It’s disappointing and unnecessary that we are having to address this.
Anaheim’s actions speak for themselves, with emergency assistance, legal aid, accurate real-time information seven days a week, night and day, and legal action challenging excessive immigration enforcement.
Our city has led our region in response to unprecedented federal immigration enforcement, and we reject misrepresentation of this issue.
Real federal enforcement is taking place. But, unfortunately, we have seen rampant online misinformation, too often to generate revenue or self-promotion. That is not in the best interest of immigrant families living with a difficult, heartbreaking reality.
Local law enforcement to keep our community safe continues in this time, and no one should confuse that. Anaheim has used license plate readers for some 15 years without concern or issue.
We are a major city of 350,000 residents, 20,000 businesses and 25 million yearly visitors. That is a responsibility we take seriously.
Cameras are not for surveillance and will not be used to support, or shared with, federal immigration enforcement, which is prohibited by state law.
We may share information with trusted local law enforcement partners who are also bound by California law restricting involvement with immigration enforcement. Beyond that, nothing short of a District or Superior court order from a standing judge would compel us to share information.
Cameras are used to identify stolen vehicles, combat theft and burglary, find crime suspects, locate missing persons, including children, and protect property and many other uses to keep our community safe.
These are issues important to everyone in our city, including our immigrant community, which, sadly, can fall victim to crime just like anyone else.
We have heard and seen a lot of misplaced commentary on this issue. Few commenters stayed or were on hand for the City Council’s actual consideration of this item.
If they had been, they would have heard how Anaheim has responsibly used, and will responsibly use, cameras.”
While Anaheim did join Perdomo Vasquez v. Mullin, the landmark case at the heart of racial profiling during the Los Angeles “roving ICE raids," Anaheim residents are stating that the decision to follow through with 72 APLRs is counterproductive to the efforts of resisting ICE.
Another concerned group is the Laborers United in Community Healing and Action (LUCHA) of Anaheim, a community watch hub that formed last year in response to various day laborers being detained by Border Patrol at an Anaheim Home Depot, inspired by the community hubs of Los Angeles started by the Tenants Union.
"These automated license plate readers are dangerous and unreliable," LUCHA tells L.A. TACO. "We have already seen how they erroneously flag vehicles, leading to traumatic and unnecessary encounters with law and immigration enforcement. If we continue to create a surveillance apparatus that is reliant on private tech companies, we open our community up to increased abuse and harassment. We are allowing our community to become a testing ground for the same suppressive technologies that have been used to oppress the people of Palestine and we have no clear way to hold the creators of that technology accountable for the harm they have and will continue to cause."
In Anaheim’s agenda report, they state that the expansion of 11 APLRs around the Disneyland and Resort Area will be used to “counter-terrorism.” L.A. TACO asked the district’s council member, Norma Campos Kurtz, as well as the City of Anaheim, if such crimes have risen in the area, and what methods would be used to deter federal use. We did not gain clarification from the City of Anaheim despite their following statement: “Anaheim has responsibly used cameras for years with no concerns about immigration enforcement. We do not want to take part in a conversation that stokes unnecessary, added concern for families already struggling with this challenging moment. We don’t have anything additional to add.” We have received no reply from Kurtz as of publishing.
Senate Bill 34, a decade-long California measure, bars state law enforcement agencies from sharing license plate reader data with out-of-state public agencies or federal entities. Despite this, in 2023, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) found that 71 California law enforcement agencies violated the measure. Several Orange County police departments near the City of Anaheim were named, including the Buena Park, Cypress, Garden Grove, and Westminster Police Departments.
According to a database of queries by the anti-surveillance group Oakland Privacy, provided to CalMatters, law enforcement across Southern California, including the Los Angeles Police Department and sheriff’s departments in San Diego and Orange County, searched license plate readers on behalf of ICE and CBP.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta added to the prohibition on out-of-state sharing the requirement that operators of license plate readers must state the purpose of their use when accessing the information. This log revealed the cooperation between ICE and Riverside County, utilizing the term “HSI,” or Homeland Security Investigations, which is the primary investigative branch of ICE.
Last year, L.A. TACO reported on an instance in which the Anaheim Police Department was present alongside a Border Patrol agent during an operation in eastern Anaheim, acting as an escort while residents legally observed. The police officer was heard stating that local law was there to “keep the peace,” and that the federal immigration agent was “just doing their job.” Afterward, a Fullerton Police officer was recorded communicating with the same Border Patrol agent after he was escorted out of Anaheim.
This new APLR expansion comes at a time when California prepares to share information about driver’s license holders, including undocumented immigrants' statuses, with "outside organizations."
“The message this sends is deeply conflicting: the city says it wants to stand with immigrant families, while also investing in technology that can make those same families feel watched, tracked, and unsafe in their own community,” says OCCORD.
