In 2015, Democratic Elk Grove Assemblyman Jim Cooper voted for Senate Bill 34, which restricted law enforcement from sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with out-of-state authorities. In 2023, now-Sacramento County Sheriff Cooper appears to be doing just that.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) a digital rights group, has sent Cooper a letter requesting that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office cease sharing ALPR data with out-of-state agencies that could use it to prosecute someone for seeking an abortion.
According to documents that the Sheriff’s Office provided EFF through a public records request, it has shared license plate reader data with law enforcement agencies in states that have passed laws banning abortion, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas.
Adam Schwartz, EFF senior staff attorney, called automated license plate readers “a growing threat to everyone’s privacy ... that are out there by the thousands in California.”
Sacramento resident here. Jim Cooper has been a disappointment through and through. I was an advocate for Tracie Stafford when he was running for assembly and it was a losing campaign as he was the incumbent, but during that time it was such a softball. It was in the middle of BLM, and he was of the position of less police accountability as an African American man. Astonishing position, and when he went on to unseat Scott Jones as sheriff (who was a Trump fanboy) Cooper took credit for being slightly to the left of the existing far far right incumbent. It's a sad state of affairs.