News & Commentary

Police in Lenexa, Kansas used automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology to pursue a man who wrote a critical op-ed about the police department, according to reporting by Kansas public radio station KCUR. This is a rare public example of exactly the kind of abuse that we’ve long warned against when it comes to mass-surveillance systems like license plate readers. It also comes on the heels of reports about apparent misuse of license plate databases by ICE agents in Minnesota not for legitimate law enforcement purposes but to intimidate observers and protesters, and of a woman who was falsely accused of theft based on data from license plate readers.

DeMond testified that HB 2448 subjects noncitizens to unfair treatment “when they pose absolutely no threat to their community.” He also said the legislation places an increased burden on poll workers who would have to correctly identify various immigration statuses. “(This bill) creates a two-tiered system of identification that treats people differently based on their citizenship status,” he said. "Driver’s licenses exist to confirm one's identity, not their personal background.”

Logan DeMond, director of policy and research at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, clashed with Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, over his assertion that signature verification laws discriminate against certain types of voters.

The latest ruling serves as the final from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Spencer Fane. The suit challenged the legality of Kansas Highway Patrol’s policy of targeting drivers whose vehicles had out-of-state license plates.

Micah Kubic, the ACLU of Kansas Executive Director, called the investigation a wanton and disgraceful abuse of power by Lenexa police. “George Orwell told us about thought crime as a cautionary fable, and this instead seems like an attempt to put it into action,” he said.

“The original bill (HB 2426) required the state of Kansas to invalidate legally issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses to depict strictly someone’s sex assigned at birth,” a presser from the ACLU of Kansas reads.

Appellate judges deemed Kansas Highway Patrol's practice of targeting drivers from specific states to be unconstitutional.

The ACLU of Kansas also criticized the bill’s passage. “Bathroom bans are grounded in prejudice and misinformation,” said Logan Demond, ACLU of Kansas policy director in a statement on the organization’s website. “And they don’t actually make anyone safer.”

The case led by the ACLU against KHP is best known for challenging the Kansas two-step, a controversial technique used by troopers to extend traffic stops and eventually search vehicles.