A secret network of surveillance cameras in Texas led to a man's constitutional rights being violated, a jury ruled – and more Americans could be harmed.
Alek Schott was driving along Interstate 35 just outside of San Antonio when he was pulled over in March 2022 by a Bexar County Sheriff's deputy.
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he → lead → deputy
Little did he know that being pulled over would become a 76-minute traffic stop that would violate his Fourth Amendment rights.
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that → know → rights
The Texan would be put in the front seat of a cop car, where he was interrogated by the deputy, and where he later stayed while a drug dog sniffed his car when he refused a search.
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he → put → search
Schott had been told he was pulled over for crossing the yellow shoulder line, but his dashcam footage proved otherwise.
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footage → tell → line
The officer would later testify in court that he used it as an excuse to look through Schott's vehicle.
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he → testify → vehicle
After the encounter, Schott would complain to the sheriff's office, which told him to file a lawsuit if he felt he had been mistreated, his lawyer said.
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lawyer → complain → lawsuit
And through the lawsuit, the Houston resident would discover the real reason he was pulled over: A series of surveillance cameras had caught him making a one-day trip to the US-Mexico border.
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him → discover → border
An anonymous law enforcement agent had flagged it as suspicious.
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agent → flag → it
'Simply driving across Texas isn't illegal,' Schott told the Daily Mail of the act that would eventually lead him to be searched.
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that → drive → him
And a federal jury agreed with him Monday, ruling that the Bexar County Sheriff's deputy had violated Schott's constitutional right to be free of unlawful searches.
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deputy → agree → searches
'Holding the government accountable for false stops, unlawful detentions, and searches without cause is incredibly hard,' Schott told the Daily Mail.
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Schott → hold → Mail
Alek Schott, of Houston, was driving his truck down I-35 when he was pulled over by a Bexar County Sheriff's deputy after an anonymous chat said cameras caught him being suspicious
For an hour, Schott (left) would be detained by police, who pulled him over after receiving a WhatsApp message from an anonymous chat stating Schott's ordinary visit to the US-Mexico was suspicious.
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visit → drive → Mexico
His trip was picked up by third-party cameras that relay information to police
Through the discovery process, Schott learned just how much data these random surveillance cameras collected, including that it knew he had a woman in his car when he left and whom he would later drop off at a hotel.
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he → pick → hotel
And little is known about these cameras – not even who owns them, operates them, or who is determining what is deemed 'suspicious' behavior, lawyer Christie Hebert told the Daily Mail.
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Hebert → know → Mail
'But we do know that there is a broader license plate reader network,' said the Institute of Justice lawyer, who represented Schott.
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who → know → Schott
An officer testified in court that these readers are everywhere – on mile markers, on tow trucks, and even in one's own neighborhood.
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readers → testify → neighborhood
'There's a comprehensive network,' Hebert said.
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Hebert → be → ?
'This network would scan everyone's plate that drives by and [it] feeds into a broader database that was being monitored, according to these officers, by folks who would then say: "Okay, this person's done a quick trip here.
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person → scan → trip
'
Even more concerningly, Bexar County Sheriff's deputies were alerted to these 'suspicious' drivers through a WhatsApp group called Northwest Highway Group, Hebert said.
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Hebert → alert → group
'They would just take whatever someone dropped in the WhatsApp chat group as truth,' the lawyer said, citing court testimony.
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lawyer → take → testimony
'They didn't verify, they didn't ask questions.
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they → verify → questions
A license plate number would be dropped in the chat, or a vehicle color and description, something as basic as that for a traffic stop.
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number → drop → stop
'Simply driving across Texas isn't illegal,' Schott told the Daily Mail
Deputy Joel Babb, who pulled Schott over, claimed Schott went over the yellow line on the road, but dashcam footage said otherwise
A drug dog sniffed Schott's car after he refused to allow officers to search his vehicle.
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officers → drive → vehicle
After the dog alerted the driver's side door, deputies cost $7,000 in damage
Deputy Joel Babb, who pulled Schott over, admitted in a pre-trial deposition that federal agencies, like Homeland Security, have 'a lot bigger toys than a license plate reader.'
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agencies → alert → reader
An artificial intelligence-powered camera had picked up Schott's plate, according to the Institute of Justice.
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camera → power → Justice
After that, an anonymous law enforcement agent decided his ordinary trip was suspicious.
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trip → decide → that
Babb testified he waited for Schott's truck to appear after receiving the WhatsApp message, leading him to pull Schott over for a traffic stop.
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truck → testify → stop
A jury decided that the deputy's reasoning behind pulling the Houston man over was a pretext to look inside the vehicle.
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reasoning → decide → vehicle
'The beautiful thing about the Texas traffic code is there are thousands of things you can stop a vehicle for,' the deputy said in court.
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deputy → be → court
Footage shot inside the cop car showed Babb questioning Schott about his trip and why he went there.
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he → shoot → trip
Eventually, the deputy told Schott his anxious behavior was enough to search the car, which the latter refused.
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latter → tell → which
Babb then summoned a police dog, who alerted officers toward the driver's side door.
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who → summon → door
Deputies caused $7,000 worth of damage to the vehicle, only to not find any drugs.
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Deputies → cause → drugs
A police report later said there was a 'trace' amount of drugs in the vehicle.
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report → say → vehicle
Schott went on to request the evidence, but his lawyer said the Sheriff's Office refused to provide it, eventually telling him to sue them if he didn't like how they did business.
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they → go → business
He would go on to win his case, with a jury finding his Fourth Amendment rights were violated four years later.
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rights → go → case
And little is known about these cameras – not even who owns them, operates them, or who is determining what is deemed 'suspicious' behavior, Christie Hebert, a lawyer for the Institute of Justice and who represented Schott, told the Daily Mail
Schott was awarded $76 – $1 for every minute he was wrongfully detained by police – on Monday.
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he → know → Monday
It is what the Houston resident asked for.
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resident → ask → what
'A jury looked at what happened to Alek and said what Bexar County did was not okay,' Hebert told the Daily Mail.
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Hebert → look → Mail
'If law enforcement is going to access this kind of broader database, there need to be warrant requirements.
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enforcement → go → database
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
