KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A West Michigan police department has shut off external access to its license plate reader (LPR) cameras after learning the data was being searched by departments “focused on immigration-related violations.”

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety released a statement Friday confirming the agency blocked outside access to its cameras:

“The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety was recently made aware of nationwide License Plate Recognition (LPR) camera searches being conducted by outside law enforcement agencies focused on immigration-related violations. Once we learned that our city was being listed in these searches, we made the decision to suspend all external law enforcement access to our LPR cameras, except for local public safety partners within Kalamazo

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