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City attorney: Supreme Court geo‑warrant ruling raises questions but is not fatal to ALPR
Summary
City attorney Steph summarized a recent Supreme Court decision about geo‑warrants and third‑party doctrine, saying it focused on cell‑phone location data but that courts will remand 4th Amendment reasonableness questions — she advised the committee to consider differences between third‑party cell data and ALPR camera data.
The city attorney briefed the committee on a recent Supreme Court decision involving geolocation warrants for cell‑phone data. "The case you're talking about...involve[s] a geo warrant...where the police applied for a warrant asking for location data that was kept in cell phones," Steph said, summarizing the facts for the committee.
Steph explained the court's engagement with the third‑party doctrine and the remand for lower courts to perform the detailed 4th Amendment reasonable search analysis. She cautioned that while the decision raises legal questions about mass location data requests, it is not directly about ALPR: "I don't think that this is something that's fatal to the PD's use of this by any means," she said, noting differences between private‑sector location data and photo captures of license plates taken in public.
Committee members debated whether the distinction between data held by private companies and data generated by police equipment matters for warrant law, and counsel advised the committee that tighter internal controls and supervisor review will help the department withstand legal scrutiny if cases arise.
