PANA v. City of San Diego

Everyone in America has the right to move freely without being surveilled, to associate where and with whom they choose, and to be protected against unreasonable searches.

Since 2024, the City of San Diego has expended taxpayer funds on the San Diego Police Department’s (SDPD) unconstitutional Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) mass surveillance program. SDPD’s ALPR system is an invasive, around-the-clock mass surveillance technology that collects a massive trove of location and identifying data that can reveal intimate details of a person’s life. This widespread collection of ALPR information poses serious threats to communities’ privacy and freedom of movement. The issue isn’t one snapshot; it’s that enough snapshots become a map of your life. This data reveals far more than our license plate number. They record where we were, when we were there, and over time can reveal our religious practices, medical visits, political activities, personal relationships, and daily routines.

The City’s use of ALPR violates the California Constitution, which guarantees the people’s inalienable right to privacy. Thus, on September 29, 2026, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA), represented by the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLUF-SDIC), filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego and SDPD seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to end their unconstitutional mass surveillance of San Diego residents and drivers. This lawsuit demands that the city must cease its use of ALPR technologies, uninstall all Flock and other ALPR cameras, and delete all data collected by these cameras.