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NOPE
Medium reported severity Media Coverage

Kansas couple pulled over twice after Flock license-plate cameras matched their KU alumni plate number to a stolen pickup's temporary tag; in Catoosa, Oklahoma, officers held them at gunpoint and handcuffed the husband, KAKE reported in January 2024

KAKE News reported on 30 January 2024 that a Kansas couple whose minivan carries a four-digit University of Kansas alumni specialty plate were pulled over twice after Flock cameras flagged their plate number as belonging to a stolen vehicle. A stolen GMC pickup had a temporary tag with the same number, and the stolen-vehicle entry recorded the wrong plate type. In Colwich, Kansas, police stopped the wife after an alert from a Flock camera at the edge of town; the officer knew her vehicle and the problem was quickly found. About a month later, according to the husband, another Flock camera alerted police in Catoosa, Oklahoma, where officers blocked the couple's van in a parking lot, pointed drawn guns at them, ordered the husband out and onto his knees and handcuffed him. He said he was scared, and the couple say they worry such a stop could have devastating consequences for someone. Wichita police told KAKE that Flock cameras report only the plate's numbers and letters, not its type, and that the department had spoken with Flock about training its AI to recognize plate backgrounds.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
30 January 2024
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Loss of LibertyPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source
4 claims: 4 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 2 people

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader cameras in Colwich, Kansas, and Catoosa, Oklahoma, which read the plate's number without its type and matched it to a stolen-vehicle record carrying the same number (KAKE; Wichita police)

What Happened

KAKE News (Wichita), 30 January 2024. The couple had owned their minivan for years with a four-digit KU alumni plate and had no problems until the year before the report. Colwich police told KAKE they had received an alert of a possible stolen vehicle from a Flock camera at the edge of town; the officer who stopped the wife was familiar with her vehicle, and it quickly emerged that a stolen GMC pickup had a temporary tag with the same number. Colwich police said the wrong plate type had been entered into the system and officers called to have it fixed. About a month later, the husband said, the couple and friends were at the Hard Rock casino in Catoosa, Oklahoma, when another Flock camera alerted police there; Catoosa police say they pulled the couple over. The couple say officers pointed drawn guns at them; the husband describes commands over a PA system, being blocked in a parking lot, being told to walk backwards and get on his knees, and being handcuffed, and says officers listened to him only once he was in handcuffs. He said he was scared and narrated every move as he got out of the van. Wichita police Capt. Casey Slaughter told KAKE that Flock cameras report only numbers and letters, not the type of plate; that an alert is 'like the hunch' to be confirmed with dispatch or records; that once a stolen tag is confirmed officers must proceed if the entering agency recorded the wrong plate type; and that the department had spoken with Flock about training its AI to recognize plate backgrounds. KAKE reports that Kansas duplicates alphanumeric combinations across more than a hundred plate designs.

Reported harm

The couple were stopped twice; in Catoosa officers pointed guns at them and the husband was made to kneel and was handcuffed, and he said he was scared (the couple's account to KAKE).

Outcome

Resolved

No lawsuit or official finding is reported. Colwich police said the wrong plate type had been entered into the stolen-vehicle system and that officers called to have the entry fixed; KAKE reports the original stolen-vehicle entry later expired. Kansas was moving to seven-digit, non-duplicated plate numbers, which Wichita police described as the best available fix.

What remains unknown

  • The exact dates of both stops; the article places the problems within the year before 30 January 2024, and the couple place the armed stop, at which the husband was handcuffed, on a sleeting day in "a really nasty October".
  • Whether the wife was also handcuffed in Catoosa, and whether the friends travelling with them were detained.
  • Catoosa police's own account of the stop; KAKE reports only that they say they pulled the couple over.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. Colwich police told KAKE they received an alert of a possible stolen vehicle from a Flock camera, and KAKE reports that another Flock camera alerted Catoosa police. Wichita police say the cameras read only a plate's numbers and letters and had discussed with Flock training its AI to recognize plate backgrounds. The match between the couple's plate number and a stolen pickup's temporary tag is the automated system's claim about their van; the stolen-vehicle entry's wrong plate type was a human data-entry error, and the armed stop was the Catoosa officers' decision.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Colwich, Kansas, police stopped the wife after an alert of a possible stolen vehicle from a Flock camera; a stolen GMC pickup had a temporary tag with the same number as the couple's specialty plate, and the wrong plate type had been entered into the stolen-vehicle system.

Causal attribution. Colwich police and the couple as reported by KAKE.

  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'an alert of a possible stolen vehicle from one of the Flock cameras situated at the edge of town.'; 'It was a stolen GMC pickup that had a temporary tag'; 'there was a stolen plate that had the same number that I had'; 'In this case, Colwich police say, the wrong plate type had been entered into the system.'
Reported About a month later another Flock camera alerted police in Catoosa, Oklahoma; the couple say officers pointed drawn guns at them, and the husband says he was ordered to walk backwards, get on his knees and was handcuffed.

Causal attribution. The couple's account to KAKE; Catoosa police's confirmation of the stop is as reported by KAKE.

  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Another Flock camera alerted local police they were driving a potentially stolen vehicle.'; 'The Catoosa police say they pulled the'; 'it was a pullover like none other in their lives with officers pointing drawn guns at them.'; 'Walk backwards. Get on your knees.'
Reported The husband said he was scared and narrated every move as he got out of the van; the couple worry that such a stop could have devastating consequences for someone.

Causal attribution. His own account.

  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He said he was scared, telling officers every move he made as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the van.'; 'say they worry a situation like that could have devastating consequences for someone.'
Reported Wichita police said Flock cameras report only a plate's numbers and letters, not its type, and that the department had spoken with Flock about training its AI to recognize plate backgrounds.

Causal attribution. Wichita Police Department captain as quoted by KAKE; a general statement about the system, not a finding about these stops.

  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Flock cameras will only report numbers and letters, not which type of plate the car had.'; 'training its AI to recognize plate backgrounds as well as numbers'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-10-04 from the Internet Archive 2026 capture (KAKE News, written by Pilar Pedraza, 30 January 2024, updated 13 February 2025); the live site returned HTTP 429. Interview with the couple plus statements from Colwich and Catoosa police (as reported) and Wichita police. Applies to s1.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.

The first stop was in Colwich, Kansas, and the armed stop in Catoosa, Oklahoma (KAKE); the couple hold a Kansas plate and are described as Kansas drivers. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-04: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use case consistent with the held Flock misread rows: KAKE reports, from the couple and from Colwich police, that Flock camera alerts matching their plate number to a stolen pickup's tag led to two stops, the second at gunpoint with the husband handcuffed. The account rests on one local report. The couple are not named here.

People described

A married couple from Kansas with a long-held KU alumni specialty plate; the husband was held at gunpoint and handcuffed in Catoosa, Oklahoma

People reported harmed in this case

At least 2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

At least two people: the couple, both stopped and held at gunpoint in Catoosa (KAKE: officers pointing drawn guns at them); the husband was handcuffed. Friends travelling with them are mentioned without detail and are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#flock#alpr#license-plate-reader#duplicate-plate#wrongful-stop#gunpoint#kansas#oklahoma#catoosa#colwich#justice

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Kansas couple pulled over twice after Flock license-plate cameras matched their KU alumni plate number to a stolen pickup's temporary tag; in Catoosa, Oklahoma, officers held them at gunpoint and handcuffed the husband, KAKE reported in January 2024. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-kansas-couple-flock-alpr-duplicate-plate-number-stolen-alert-stops-catoosa-gunpoint

BibTeX

@misc{2023_kansas_couple_flock_alpr_duplicate_plate_number_stolen_alert_stops_catoosa_gunpoint,
  title = {Kansas couple pulled over twice after Flock license-plate cameras matched their KU alumni plate number to a stolen pickup's temporary tag; in Catoosa, Oklahoma, officers held them at gunpoint and handcuffed the husband, KAKE reported in January 2024},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-kansas-couple-flock-alpr-duplicate-plate-number-stolen-alert-stops-catoosa-gunpoint}
}

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