{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-14T10:40:36.627Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"license-plate-reader","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2026","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":3,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-lexington-kentucky-flock-alpr-vehicle-description-search-police-surround-wrong-home","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'in the early hours of Sept. 26, 2026'; 'officers surrounded his home'; 'The group of police left around 10 minutes later.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'one with a gun unholstered'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'spotlights were shining on the home as officers surrounded it'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"In the early hours of 26 September 2026 Lexington police officers surrounded a couple's home, with spotlights and at least one officer's gun unholstered, and knocked on the door. Officers told the couple they were not suspects and left.","causal_attribution":"Each outlet reports the resident's doorbell video and its own interview; the three accounts rest on the same residents and video."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Due to the time of day there was only one return matching the suspect vehicle, resulting in the response to the residence'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'did not provide a license plate number. Officers entered that information into the Flock system and found a vehicle they believed matched'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'officers used the Flock Safety System, which includes 125 automatic license plate reader cameras placed around the city, to follow up on the lead'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Police were investigating a reported assault in a road-rage incident. Without a license plate, officers searched the city's Flock camera system using the vehicle description, and the single matching return led them to the couple's home.","causal_attribution":"Lexington police statements to each outlet (one originating party)."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'further investigation enabled officers to determine the vehicle was not the suspect vehicle in question and the scene was cleared'; 'This was not a misidentification'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'they determined almost immediately that he was not the suspect they were looking for'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Police determined that the couple's truck was not the suspect vehicle and placed no charges in relation to it. The department said this was not a misidentification but a lead that was followed up.","causal_attribution":"Lexington police statements as reported."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'My grandmother was scared to death'; '94-year-old grandmother inside the home'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'he’s scared to drive his truck again'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The residents said the armed early-morning response frightened them and the resident's 94-year-old grandmother, who was inside the home, and the resident said he was scared to drive his truck again.","causal_attribution":"The residents' own accounts to LEX 18 and WEKU."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Officers showed the Flock image of the vehicle to the victim, who confirmed it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"LEX 18 reported that officers showed the Flock image of the truck to the road-rage victim, who said it was the same vehicle, before going to the home.","causal_attribution":"The police commander's account to LEX 18; it places a human identification step between the Flock return and the response."}],"effects":[{"label":"police with at least one gun unholstered surrounded a couple's home at about 4 a.m. after a license-plate camera search by vehicle description returned their truck","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.weku.org/lexington-richmond/2026-09-30/flock-search-that-led-lexington-police-to-surround-wrong-home-intensifies-debate-over-the-tech","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-05 (WEKU public radio, 30 September 2026). Rests on WEKU's own interview with the resident and a written statement from the Lexington Police Department.","independence_group":"weku-lexington-interview-and-lpd-statement"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.wkyt.com/2026/09/28/lexington-couple-questions-police-response-after-flock-camera-lead/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-05 (WKYT, 28 September 2026). Rests on WKYT's own interviews with the couple and a Lexington police patrol commander.","independence_group":"wkyt-lexington-interviews"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/lexington-couple-questions-flock-cameras-after-lead-mismatches-their-car-in-road-rage-case","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-05 (LEX 18 News, article body from the page's structured data; the page's structured data gives datePublished 29 September 2026, updated 30 September). Rests on LEX 18's own interviews with the couple and the same police commander.","independence_group":"lex18-lexington-interviews"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["How the Flock description search works and how many candidate vehicles it returned before filtering by time.","How officers determined at the door that the truck was not the suspect vehicle.","Whether the couple filed a complaint and whether the department reviewed the response.","Whether the suspect vehicle was later identified."],"geography":{"basis":"Lexington police went to a home in Lexington, Kentucky (WEKU, WKYT, LEX 18).","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use case. Three local outlets, each with its own interviews, report that a Flock search by vehicle description returned one truck and that police then surrounded its owner's home at about 4 a.m. with a gun unholstered, and that police found it was not the suspect vehicle. The police dispute the word misidentification. The residents are named by the outlets and are not named here. Claims are reported because they rest on the same residents and police statements.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-05"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Lexington Police Department told WEKU that officers queried its Flock network with only a vehicle description, that one return matched the suspect vehicle, and that this resulted in the response to the residence. A police commander gave the same account to WKYT and LEX 18. WEKU quotes a mayoral candidate referring to the AI technology that powers the cameras; the department does not describe the technology.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Lexington, Kentucky: police surrounded a couple's home at about 4 a.m. in September 2026, one officer with a gun unholstered, after a Flock camera search by vehicle description returned their truck in a road-rage investigation","summary":"WEKU, WKYT and LEX 18 reported that Lexington police surrounded a couple's home in the early hours of 26 September 2026 while investigating a reported assault in a road-rage incident. The victim had described a dark pickup truck and gave no license plate. The Lexington Police Department said officers searched its Flock camera network using the description, that only one return matched at that time of day, and that this led to the response to the residence. Doorbell video showed several police cars, spotlights and an officer with a gun unholstered at the door. Officers told the couple they were not suspects and left after about ten minutes. Police said they determined the truck was not the suspect vehicle, placed no charges and described the visit as following up a lead, not a misidentification. The residents said the response frightened them and a 94-year-old relative inside the home.","incidentDate":"2026-09-26","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-09-28","aiSystem":"Flock Safety camera network of 125 automatic license plate readers used by the Lexington Police Department, searched by vehicle description without a plate number (police statements to WEKU, WKYT and LEX 18)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The residents told WEKU, WKYT and LEX 18 that the armed response at about 4 a.m. frightened them. The resident told LEX 18 and WEKU that it frightened his 94-year-old grandmother, and told WEKU he was scared to drive his truck again.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":3,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Three people in the home: the resident and fiancee who answered the door, and the resident's 94-year-old grandmother, whom he describes as scared to death (LEX 18; WEKU). Exact 3.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-KY","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.weku.org/lexington-richmond/2026-09-30/flock-search-that-led-lexington-police-to-surround-wrong-home-intensifies-debate-over-the-tech","primarySourceLabel":"WEKU, 30 September 2026: Flock search that led Lexington police to surround wrong home intensifies debate over the tech","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-05T03:12:42.544438+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T03:12:42.544438+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","vehicle-description-search","wrong-home","kentucky","lexington","justice","made-claim-about"]},{"id":"2026-plymouth-minnesota-flock-alpr-partial-plate-stolen-alert-journalist-couple-boxed-in-detained","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On an otherwise normal Sunday afternoon in late June'; 'four cop cars came flying out of nowhere and boxed us in'; 'He patted me down'; 'The plates on this car are stolen'; 'Eventually, after a tense hour, I did.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'after about an hour he too was let go'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On a Sunday afternoon in late June, four police cars boxed in a loaned Range Rover in a Kohl's parking lot in Plymouth, Minnesota. Officers ordered the journalist driving it and the journalist's wife out, patted the journalist down, questioned both, said the plates were stolen, and released them after about an hour.","causal_attribution":"First-person account by the journalist; no police record was read."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'they’d actually been tracking me around town for days via Flock cameras'; 'opened the Flock app, and showed me two photos'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Officers told the journalist that they had tracked the vehicle around town for days through Flock cameras, set up the stop after a camera alert that morning, and showed two Flock photographs of the vehicle and its plate on a phone.","causal_attribution":"The journalist's account of what officers said and showed."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database missing the middle two digits'; 'It was asked, can you find this? And it did find that.'; 'does not equal probable cause'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A similar manufacturer plate reported stolen in California had been entered in the national crime database without its two middle digits, and Flock's system alerted on the loaned vehicle's plate as a match. Flock's chief communications officer said the system read what it was asked to find and that an alert does not equal probable cause.","causal_attribution":"The journalist's reconstruction from the officers, the vehicle's manufacturer and Flock; Flock attributes the outcome to incomplete data entry and missing human verification."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'he acknowledged his officers didn’t get it right'; 'to open a conversation about the use of Flock cameras within the city'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Plymouth police chief acknowledged to the journalist that the officers did not get it right, and the city council opened a discussion of the city's use of Flock cameras.","causal_attribution":"The journalist's paraphrase of the chief's interview and of the council's response."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'was pulled over by two officers in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska while driving his 14-year-old kid'; 'after about an hour he too was let go'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A second automotive journalist driving another loaned vehicle with a plate in the same sequence was pulled over in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, with a 14-year-old child in the car, and was let go after about an hour.","causal_attribution":"Reported by the first journalist from the second journalist's account; a separate stop, not counted in this case."}],"effects":[{"label":"boxed in by four police cars, ordered out of a loaned press vehicle, patted down and held for about an hour after a license-plate camera alert reported the plate as stolen","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-flock-cameras-wrongly-tracked-me-for-days-over-stolen-plates-and-sent-police-after-me","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-05 (The Drive, first-person account by the journalist who was stopped, published 8 July 2026). The account of what officers said is the author's.","independence_group":"thedrive-first-person-plymouth"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.thedrive.com/news/inside-the-flock-dragnet-how-systemic-errors-led-to-police-ambushing-me-for-no-reason","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-05 (The Drive, follow-up by the same author, published 17 July 2026). Carries the author's interviews with Flock Safety's chief communications officer and the Plymouth police chief. Same author and outlet as s1, so one independence group.","independence_group":"thedrive-first-person-plymouth"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The exact date of the stop.","Whether the incomplete stolen-plate entry has been corrected in the national database and in Flock's system.","Whether the Plymouth Police Department changed its verification practice or took any internal action.","Which agency's alert led to the Nebraska stop and whether a Flock camera was involved there."],"geography":{"basis":"The stop took place in a store parking lot in Plymouth, Minnesota, where the journalist says they live (The Drive). The stolen-plate report originated in California.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use case consistent with the held Flock rows. A journalist gives a concrete first-person account of being boxed in, patted down and held for about an hour with a spouse after a Flock camera alert matched a loaned vehicle's plate to an incomplete stolen-plate entry, and Flock's spokesperson confirms how the match occurred. Both sources are by the same author, so every claim is reported.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-05"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The journalist reports that officers said they had tracked the vehicle for days through Flock cameras and showed the Flock app with the photographs of the plate. Flock Safety's chief communications officer, interviewed for the follow-up, confirmed that the system matched the plate to an incomplete stolen-plate entry and described the matching as machine learning. The Drive describes the cameras as AI-powered.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Plymouth, Minnesota: police boxed in and detained an automotive journalist and the journalist's wife for about an hour in June 2026 after Flock cameras matched a loaned Range Rover's plate to an incomplete stolen-plate entry","summary":"An automotive journalist for The Drive wrote that on a Sunday afternoon in late June four Plymouth police cars boxed in the Range Rover press vehicle the journalist was testing, in a Kohl's parking lot. Officers ordered the journalist and the journalist's wife out, patted the journalist down, questioned both and said the plates were stolen. According to the account, officers said they had tracked the vehicle for days through Flock license-plate cameras and acted on a camera alert that morning. The couple were released after about an hour, once the manufacturer explained that a similar plate had been reported stolen in California. In a follow-up, Flock's chief communications officer said the stolen plate had been entered without its two middle digits and that the system matched what it was asked to find. The spokesperson said an alert does not equal probable cause. The police chief acknowledged that officers did not get it right. A second journalist with a similar plate was later stopped in Nebraska.","incidentDate":"2026-06-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-07-08","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader cameras used by the Plymouth Police Department, described by The Drive as AI-powered and by Flock's spokesperson as machine learning, which matched the vehicle's plate to an incomplete stolen-plate entry and alerted police","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The journalist reports that the couple were boxed in by four police cars, ordered out, questioned and held for about an hour, and that the journalist was patted down (The Drive, first-person account).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Two people, the journalist and the journalist's wife, were ordered out and held at the scene (The Drive). The second journalist and a child stopped in Nebraska belong to a separate event and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-MN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-flock-cameras-wrongly-tracked-me-for-days-over-stolen-plates-and-sent-police-after-me","primarySourceLabel":"The Drive, 8 July 2026: How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over 'Stolen' Plates and Sent Police After Me","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-05T03:12:31.048274+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T03:12:31.048274+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","partial-plate-match","stale-hotlist","wrongful-stop","minnesota","plymouth","justice","made-claim-about","first-person"]},{"id":"2026-sherwood-arkansas-flock-alpr-misread-plate-one-letter-gunpoint-stop-couple-infant","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In February, a Flock camera in Sherwood flagged a Black Chevrolet Tahoe as stolen.'; 'drew his weapon, and detained the driver.'; 'She was in the backseat next to a 1-month-old child.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In February 2026 a Flock camera in Sherwood flagged a black Chevrolet Tahoe as stolen; an officer stopped it in a Kohl's parking lot, drew his weapon and detained the driver, and the passenger, seated in the back next to a one-month-old child, was also detained after a second officer arrived.","causal_attribution":"KATV's account, resting on the incident report."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the vehicle that was pulled over was not the same car; the Flock camera was off by one letter.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to the incident report, the camera matched the car to the plate of the stolen vehicle in its system, but the stopped car was a different vehicle; the camera's read was off by one letter.","causal_attribution":"The incident report as described by KATV attributes the stop to the camera's one-letter misread."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Once the officers realized the mistake, they promptly released both individuals.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Once the officers realized the mistake, they released both people.","causal_attribution":"KATV, citing the incident report."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'After that February incident in Sherwood, the Sherwood Police Department established a transparency portal for Flock safety.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After the February incident the Sherwood Police Department established a Flock transparency portal stating that Flock data is retained for 30 days and that all system access requires a valid reason.","causal_attribution":"KATV reports the sequence; it does not quote the department on whether the portal was a response to the stop."}],"effects":[{"label":"a driver detained at gunpoint and a passenger seated beside a one-month-old child detained after a Flock camera misread their plate","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://katv.com/news/local/sherwood-stop-sparked-after-flock-camera-misread-plate-by-one-letter-as-stolen-katv-news-share-inform-public-community-safety","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-04 (KATV, Christopher Gay, 18 March 2026). Rests on the police incident report and an interview with an Institute for Justice attorney.","independence_group":"katv-sherwood-incident-report"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["The exact date of the stop and how long the two people were held.","Whether the two people were handcuffed or described any lasting effect.","Whether the officer checked the plate manually before the stop, and whether any complaint or review followed."],"geography":{"basis":"KATV places the camera and the stop in Sherwood, Arkansas (a Kohl's parking lot). The two people's residence is not stated; affected_person_countries US rests on their stop there. No court proceeding is reported.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use case consistent with the held Flock misread rows: KATV, citing the police incident report, reports that a Flock camera's one-letter misread flagged a car as stolen and that officers detained the driver at gunpoint and the passenger, who was beside a one-month-old child, before releasing them. Neither person is named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"KATV, citing the incident report, says a Flock camera in Sherwood flagged the car as stolen because the camera's plate read was off by one letter from the stolen vehicle's plate in its system. KATV describes Flock cameras as license plate readers that record passing plates and check them against a list of stolen vehicles. The flag on the couple's car was the automated system's claim about them; drawing a weapon and detaining them were officers' decisions. The source does not describe the camera as AI.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Sherwood, Arkansas: a driver and passenger with a one-month-old child are detained after an officer draws his weapon because a Flock camera misread their plate by one letter as a stolen vehicle's","summary":"KATV reported on 18 March 2026 that in February a Flock license-plate-reader camera in Sherwood, Arkansas flagged a black Chevrolet Tahoe as stolen. An officer stopped the car in a Kohl's parking lot, drew his weapon and detained the driver; a second officer arrived and the passenger, who was in the back seat next to a one-month-old child, was also detained. According to the incident report, the plate the camera matched belonged to the stolen vehicle in its system and the stopped car was a different vehicle: the camera's read was off by one letter. The officers released both people once they realized the mistake. After the incident the Sherwood Police Department set up a Flock transparency portal.","incidentDate":"2026-02-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-03-18","aiSystem":"Flock Safety license-plate-reader camera in Sherwood, Arkansas that read the car's plate and flagged it as a stolen vehicle's plate (incident report as reported by KATV)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the incident report as described by KATV, a driver was detained at gunpoint and a passenger seated beside a one-month-old child was also detained after a Flock camera misread their plate by one letter as a stolen vehicle's; both were released when officers realized the mistake.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Two people detained: the driver and the passenger (KATV, citing the incident report). The one-month-old child is not counted because no harm to the child is reported.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"US-AR","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://katv.com/news/local/sherwood-stop-sparked-after-flock-camera-misread-plate-by-one-letter-as-stolen-katv-news-share-inform-public-community-safety","primarySourceLabel":"KATV, 18 March 2026: Sherwood stop sparked after Flock camera misread plate by one letter as stolen","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:47:10.066076+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:47:10.066076+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","misread","wrongful-stop","gunpoint","arkansas","sherwood","made-claim-about"]}]}