CHICAGO — An automatic license plate reader company used by hundreds of police departments around Illinois broke state law by allowing federal border enforcement officers to access Illinois license plate camera data, according to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

The company, Flock Safety, was also allegedly used by out-of-state police earlier this year to look for a woman who recently had an abortion. That situation sparked the secretary of state’s office to audit Flock.

License plate readers are cameras which can automatically detect the license plate, make, model and other details of cars while they’re driving. These details are logged and entered into a database that can be searched and shared between law enforcement agencies, governments and private companies.

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