The following essay authored by Policing Project counsel Anita Yandle was published in The Seattle Times on February 3, 2026 here.

Every time you leave your house and get in your car, your location and movements are almost certainly being tracked by a sprawling surveillance system of automated license plate readers, or ALPRs.

In Washington, this advanced surveillance system widely used by law enforcement remains largely unregulated. Police use the tools without any guardrails around how, when and where they can be used, and what happens to the data they collect.

Read the full article here.