Email threads from the “Southern Oregon Analyst Group,” released by the anti-surveillance group Information for Public Use, show informal intelligence sharing between the Medford Police Department and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
The unofficial crime analyst group, which included officers from departments around Southern Oregon as well as the FBI and ICE, was used to share surveillance tips and services between 2021 and 2024. Analysts in the group investigate various crimes from illegal cannabis cultivation to human trafficking.
A 2021 exchange shows Medford police ran a license plate check for ICE after an informal request within the email group. In a statement, the department said this was for a crime not related to immigration and that its resource sharing with ICE complies with both state and federal law.
But Kelly Simon, legal director at ACLU of Oregon, said this kind of collaboration could run afoul of the state’s shield and sanctuary laws, which prohibit local agencies from helping investigate some federal laws without a warrant.
“When we see such casual sharing, without oversight, without questions about why one agency may need information from another, we start to see that our shields and our sanctuaries become more like sieves,” Simon said.
Medford police currently use a number of surveillance technologies, including the automated license plate reader system Flock. Privacy proponents have criticized Flock for its ability to surveil large numbers of drivers in an effort to identify wanted license plates.
Hundreds of private properties also participate in the city’s Security Camera Registration and Mapping program.
Simon said the scope of this surveillance should worry residents.
“We're really starting to see the dragnet of surveillance that happens not within each agency, but among all of the federal and local law enforcement agencies working in the state of Oregon,” she said.
Last year, the ACLU of Oregon sued the Medford Police Department, alleging that officers had illegally monitored the social media accounts of organizers.
