Warrantless Historical ALPR Search Ruled Unconstitutional in Melissa Kyle Case
PolicyUnverifiedUpdated:
404 Media reports that a federal judge found the warrantless use of Flock and Motorola automated license plate reader records in Melissa Kyle’s case unconstitutional, requiring the resulting evidence to be disregarded.
Historical movements queried during a stop
The report says U.S. District Court Judge Sara Hill ruled that a deputy’s search of historical location records from Flock and Motorola automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems violated Kyle’s Fourth Amendment rights. It says the court ordered the ALPR-derived evidence and evidence from the vehicle search excluded. The published footage and records depict the deputy reviewing travel-history records during the stop.
The report does not establish a comparable earlier legal standard or outcome for this case beyond the court ruling it describes.
According to the report, the ruling treats the warrantless historical ALPR search used in this case as a Fourth Amendment search and excludes evidence derived from it.
Exclusion of evidence in this case
The reported ruling directly addresses whether law enforcement may search a vehicle’s accumulated ALPR movement history without a warrant, connecting automated plate-reader data to constitutional privacy protections in this case.
Sources
- 404 MediaWatch Footage of the Flock Search a Judge Ruled UnconstitutionalRead source →