SB1753 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 10646 RLC 30890 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB1753

Introduced 2/20/2015, by Sen. Daniel Biss

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Freedom from Automatic License Plate Reader Surveillance Act. Provides that a person acting under the color of State law may not use any automatic license plate reader system (ALPR system) except (1) for electronic toll collection; (2) for traffic enforcement; (3) by parking enforcement entities for regulating the use of parking facilities; (4) for controlling access to secured areas that have clear boundaries, entry only through specific controlled points, and limited access; (5) for the purpose of conducting criminal investigations upon an officer's determination that the vehicles or individuals associated with the license plate numbers are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation; or (6) by law enforcement agencies for the comparison of captured plate data with information contained in databases maintained by the Secretary of State of this State or by federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies, and with license plate numbers that have been manually entered into an ALPR system upon an officer's determination that the vehicles or individuals associated with the license plate numbers are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing person investigation, for the purpose of identifying: (A) vehicles that are stolen, or in violation of any registration or inspection requirements; (B) persons who are missing, or the subject of an arrest warrant, look-out order, traffic citation, or parking citation; or (C) vehicles that are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning vehicles.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Freedom from Automatic License Plate Reader Surveillance Act.

Section 5. Definitions. For the purpose of this Act:

"Alert" means information contained in databases maintained by the Secretary of State of this State or by federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies, and license plate numbers that have been manually entered into the ALPR system upon an officer's determination that the vehicles or individuals associated with the license plate numbers are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing person investigation.

"Automatic license plate reader system" or "ALPR system" means a system of one or more mobile or fixed automatic high-speed cameras used in combination with computer algorithms to convert images of license plates into computer-readable data.

"Captured plate data" means the GPS coordinates, date and time, photograph, license plate number, and any other data captured by or derived from any ALPR system.

"Law enforcement agency" means any agency of this State or a unit of local government which is vested by law or ordinance with the duty to maintain public order and to enforce criminal laws and ordinances.

"Law enforcement officer" means any officer, agent, or employee of this State or a unit of local government authorized by law or by a government agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, or investigation of any violation of criminal law, or authorized by law to supervise sentenced criminal offenders.

"Look-out order" means an order received or initiated by a law enforcement agency to look out for a particular person reasonably suspected of being a threat to public safety or engaged in criminal activity.

Section 10. Allowable uses of ALPR systems. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, a person acting under the color of State law may not use any ALPR system. An ALPR systems may be used:

(1) for electronic toll collection;

(2) for traffic enforcement;

(3) by parking enforcement entities for regulating the use of parking facilities;

(4) for controlling access to secured areas that have clear boundaries, entry only through specific controlled points, and limited access;

(5) for the purpose of conducting criminal investigations upon an officer's determination that the vehicles or individuals associated with the license plate numbers are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation; or

(6) by law enforcement agencies for the comparison of captured plate data with information contained in databases maintained by the Secretary of State of this State or by federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies, and with license plate numbers that have been manually entered into an ALPR system upon an officer's determination that the vehicles or individuals associated with the license plate numbers are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing person investigation, for the purpose of identifying:

(A) vehicles that are stolen, or in violation of any registration or inspection requirements;

(B) persons who are missing, or the subject of an arrest warrant, look-out order, traffic citation, or parking citation; or

(C) vehicles that are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.

Section 15. Protections.

(a) Captured plate data obtained for the purposes described under paragraph (6) of Section 10 shall not be used, shared, sold, traded, or exchanged for any other purpose and shall not be preserved for more than 30 days by a law enforcement agency except it may be preserved for more than 30 days:

(1) under a preservation request under Section 25;

(2) under a disclosure order under Section 25;

(3) as part of an ongoing investigation provided that the captured plate data is confirmed as matching an alert and is destroyed at the conclusion of either:

(A) an investigation that does not result in any criminal charges being filed; or

(B) any criminal action undertaken in the matter involving the captured plate data.

(b) Any law enforcement agency that uses an ALPR system under paragraph (6) of Section 10 must update that system from the databases described in paragraph (6) of Section 10 at the beginning of each shift if the updates are available.

(c) Any law enforcement agency that uses an ALPR system under paragraph (6) of Section 10 may manually enter license plate numbers into the ALPR system only if an officer determines that the vehicle or individuals associated with the license plate numbers are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing persons investigation and subject to the following limitations:

(1) any manual entry must document the reason for the entry; and

(2) manual entries must be purged after 48 hours, unless an officer determines that the vehicle or individuals associated with the license plate numbers continue to be relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing persons investigation.

Section 20. Preservation and disclosure.

(a) An operator of an automatic license plate reader system, upon the request of a law enforcement agency or a defendant in a criminal case, shall take all necessary steps to preserve captured plate data in its possession for 30 days pending the issuance of a court order under Section (b). A requesting governmental entity or defendant in a criminal case must specify in a written sworn statement:

(1) the particular camera or cameras for which captured plate data must be preserved or the particular license plate for which captured plate data must be preserved; and

(2) the date or dates and timeframes for which captured plate data must be preserved.

(b) A law enforcement agency or defendant in a criminal case may apply for a court order for disclosure of captured plate data which shall be issued by any court that is a court of competent jurisdiction if the law enforcement agency or defendant in a criminal case offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the captured plate data is relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing persons investigation or criminal prosecution.

(c) Captured plate data held by a law enforcement agency shall be destroyed if the application for an order under Section (b) of this Section is denied or at the end of 30 days, whichever is later.

Section 25. Allowable uses of all other captured plate data. If an ALPR system captures plate information under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of Section 10 of this Act, then the captured plate information:

(1) shall be used and disclosed only as necessary to achieve the purpose for which the information was captured and shall not be sold, traded, or exchanged for any other purpose; and

(2) shall be destroyed within 48 hours of the completion of that purpose.

Section 30. Use of privately held captured plate data.

(a) A law enforcement agency may obtain, receive, or use privately-held captured plate data for the purposes described in paragraph (3) of Section 10 only if the private automatic license plate reader system retains captured plate data for 30 days or fewer.

(b) A law enforcement agency may obtain, receive, or use privately-held captured plate data for the purposes described in paragraphs (5) and (6) of Section 10 under a court order, only if the law enforcement agency offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the captured plate data is relevant and material to an ongoing criminal or missing person investigation or criminal prosecution, and only if the private automatic license plate reader system retains captured plate data for 30 days or less.

Section 35. Admissibility. If a court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that captured plate information was gathered, stored, used, or disclosed in violation of this Act, then that information shall be presumed to be inadmissible in any judicial or administrative proceeding. The State may overcome this presumption by proving the applicability of a judicially recognized exception to the exclusionary rule of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 6 of the Illinois Constitution, or by a preponderance of the evidence that the individual, partnership, corporation, association, or the law enforcement officer was acting in good faith and reasonably believed that one or more of the exceptions identified in Section 10 existed at the time that the captured plate information was gathered, stored, used, or disclosed.

Section 40. Reporting. Any law enforcement agency that uses automatic license plate reader systems under Section 10 shall:

(1) adopt a policy governing use of the system and conspicuously post the policy on the law enforcement agency's Internet Web site;

(2) adopt a privacy policy to ensure that captured plate data is not shared in violation of this act or any other law and conspicuously post the privacy policy on the law enforcement agency's Internet Web site;

(3) adopt audit procedures relating to the use of ALPR system data; and

(4) adopt and periodically update a comprehensive training program for agency employees who use or have access to ALPR system data, which fully trains the employees on safeguards in the use of ALPR system data and procedures to adhere to policies and procedures governing the use of ALPR system data.