{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-11T09:15:44.178Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"parents","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":2,"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":"2025-morristown-tennessee-flock-alpr-stolen-alert-vanity-plate-grandparents-handcuffed-gunpoint","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'both police officers had guns drawn on me as I was doing that,'; 'To be treated that way at gunpoint, handcuffed, humiliated,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Officers handcuffed them both, while'; 'After the couple was handcuffed, it was discovered that the vehicle identification number on the Expedition'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Morristown police stopped the couple, held them at gunpoint and handcuffed them both, while their 3-year-old granddaughter remained in the car.","causal_attribution":"The couple's account to WATE; police records reviewed by Business Insider record the handcuffing and the high-risk stop, and the department told WATE that high-risk protocol is common in felony investigations."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen.'; 'It had already been recovered, but it was never removed from the system.'; 'their license plate number was recorded as a zero, not the letter O.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'In Claiborne County, a Ford F-150 was reported stolen.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen; the Flock summary recorded the couple's plate with a zero instead of the letter O, matching a stolen pickup that had already been recovered but was never removed from the system.","causal_attribution":"Business Insider from police records; WATE confirms the stolen pickup but does not mention Flock."},{"id":"c3","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"'However, using either character, the license plate shows as a stolen vehicle in the crime information database.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'officers used information from the National Crime Information Center (a state database, not the license plate reader database) as our protocol requires'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The police department says the officer ran the tag as displayed, with an O, and that with either character the plate shows as stolen in the crime information database; the chief says officers relied on the National Crime Information Center as protocol requires.","causal_attribution":"Police account; it disputes that the license-plate reader determined the stop, against Business Insider's account of the Flock alert."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I really thought if I get shot today'; 'I had a laser beam on my chest at one point,'; 'so I was crying,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The grandfather said he thought he might be shot and felt humiliated; the grandmother said she had a laser sight on her chest at one point and was crying as she heard her granddaughter calling for her.","causal_attribution":"Their own account to WATE."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'She has regressed to sleeping with her parents'; 'didn’t want to get in my vehicle'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The grandmother told WATE that since the stop the granddaughter has regressed to sleeping with her parents, keeps repeating 'baby in the car', and did not want to get into her vehicle.","causal_attribution":"The grandmother's account to WATE."}],"effects":[{"label":"both grandparents held at gunpoint and handcuffed while their 3-year-old granddaughter stayed in the car","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"grandfather feared being shot and felt humiliated; grandmother says she was crying","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"3-year-old granddaughter left alone in the car; her grandmother says she has since regressed and is afraid to get into the vehicle","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/couple-handcuffed-in-morristown-due-to-license-plate-mix-up/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-04 from the Internet Archive 2026 capture (WATE, June 2025; Google News dates it 11 June 2025); the live site returned HTTP 403. Interview with the couple and a police department statement; does not mention Flock.","independence_group":"wate-morristown-interview"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.businessinsider.com/flock-safety-alpr-cameras-misreads-2026-3","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-10-04 (Business Insider, 9 March 2026); full text present in the served page. Draws on police records including the Flock investigative summary, an interview and the police chief.","independence_group":"business-insider-records-review"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["The exact date of the stop; WATE says a Monday morning and Business Insider says June 2025.","Whether the Flock camera misread the letter O as a zero or matched a hotlist entry under a normalized character; Business Insider reports only that the summary recorded a zero.","Whether any complaint or claim was filed."],"geography":{"basis":"The stop was made by Morristown, Tennessee, police (WATE; Business Insider); the couple are described as earlier stopped in Bean Station and visited at home by officers, both in East Tennessee. 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: WATE reports the couple's account of being held at gunpoint and handcuffed with their granddaughter in the car, and Business Insider reports from police records that a Flock alert flagged the plate and recorded it with a zero. The police say the stop rested on the crime information database; that dispute is recorded. None of the family is named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Business Insider, citing police records, reports that officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen and that the Flock summary recorded the plate with a zero; the deputy chief's earlier email warned that Flock misreads plates. The police department says the officer confirmed the hit in the crime information database, where the plate shows as stolen with either character, and the chief says officers relied on that database. The stale stolen-vehicle record and the armed stop were human and institutional decisions; how far the reader's alert determined the stop is disputed.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Morristown, Tennessee: police held a grandmother and grandfather at gunpoint and handcuffed them in June 2025, with their 3-year-old granddaughter left in the car, after a Flock alert flagged the grandmother's vanity plate, which matched a recovered stolen pickup's plate spelled with a zero; police say the stop rested on the crime database","summary":"In June 2025 Morristown, Tennessee, police stopped a couple driving their 3-year-old granddaughter to a doctor's appointment, held them at gunpoint and handcuffed them both. The grandmother's personalized plate spelled a nickname with the letter O; a Ford F-150 reported stolen in Claiborne County carried the same word spelled with a zero. Business Insider reported in March 2026 that officers received a Flock alert that the plate was stolen, that the Flock investigative summary recorded the couple's plate with a zero, and that the stolen pickup had already been recovered but was never removed from the system. The police department told WATE that the officer ran the tag as displayed, with an O, and that with either character it showed as stolen in the crime information database; the police chief told Business Insider that officers relied on the National Crime Information Center as protocol requires. The grandfather told WATE that he thought he might be shot and felt humiliated, and the grandmother said she was crying as she heard her granddaughter calling for her.","incidentDate":"2025-06-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-06-11","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader camera system whose alert flagged the couple's plate as stolen and whose investigative summary recorded the plate with a zero for the letter O (Business Insider, citing police records)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Both grandparents were held at gunpoint and handcuffed while their 3-year-old granddaughter stayed in the car; the grandfather said he feared being shot and felt humiliated, and the grandmother said she was crying (WATE; Business Insider). The grandmother says the granddaughter has since regressed to sleeping with her parents and did not want to get into her vehicle (WATE). Police dispute that the license-plate reader determined the stop.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"disputed","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":3,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Three people: the grandparents, both held at gunpoint and handcuffed (WATE; Business Insider), and their 3-year-old granddaughter, left terrified and alone in the car (Business Insider), who the grandmother says has since regressed to sleeping with her parents and did not want to get into her vehicle (WATE). Exact 3.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"US-TN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wate.com/news/top-stories/couple-handcuffed-in-morristown-due-to-license-plate-mix-up/","primarySourceLabel":"WATE 6 On Your Side, June 2025: Couple handcuffed in Morristown due to license plate mix-up","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:32:02.866389+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:32:02.866389+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","vanity-plate","stale-hotlist","wrongful-stop","gunpoint","tennessee","morristown","justice","made-claim-about"]},{"id":"2025-washington-il-snapchat-flag-student-teacher-arrest","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The social media site flagged the message and warned the FBI, which then notified the Sheriff's Office'; 'the office had been informed on Jan. 29, 2025, at 1:06 p.m. that the FBI had received a threat via Snapchat involving someone at John A. Hensey School in Washington.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"District email: 'The use of that obviously inappropriate language on the social media site triggered a report to law enforcement who subsequently interviewed the student teacher.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Snapchat's systems flagged the woman's private group-chat message and warned the FBI, which notified the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office on 29 January 2025 at 1:06 p.m.","causal_attribution":"One outlet group (Peoria Journal Star) carrying two distinct records (sheriff's reports via FOIA; the district's email). The flagging technology is unspecified; no second independent outlet describes the mechanism, so the claim stays reported."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'In a chat with her boyfriend and her two roommates, she advised whether she should \"shoot the child or just the whole school?\"' (sheriff's reports).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Volpe sent the message to her friends, asking them whether she should \"shoot\" the student.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The flagged message asked whether she should 'shoot the child or just the whole school' (sheriff's reports' rendering); the district's email and 25News Now report her asking friends whether she should 'shoot' the student.","causal_attribution":"Wordings differ slightly between the sheriff's reports and the district/25News accounts; both versions are attributed. She confirmed sending the message and said it was a joke."},{"id":"c3","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"Body-cam account: interview in an empty classroom, Miranda rights, the flagged message shown, consent forms, classroom search finding nothing; 'she would be arrested in Tazewell County'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'deputies arrested [her] at John L. Hensey Elementary School around 1 p.m. Wednesday. She was booked into the Tazewell County Jail for disorderly conduct.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Deputies interviewed her at the school, read her Miranda rights, searched her phone and belongings with consent and found no weapons; they arrested her on a disorderly conduct charge and she was booked into the Tazewell County Jail.","causal_attribution":"The arrest and booking are established by two independent local outlets; the interview detail comes from the FOIA body-cam footage and police reports."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Deputies interviewed her and came to the conclusion that she made the comment out of \"exasperation,\" had no intentions to harm anyone, and was not a threat to the school.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"District email: 'Law enforcement officers quickly determined that the student teacher made the statement out of exasperation... but did not have any actual intent to shoot anyone or otherwise cause harm.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Sheriff's Office and the district concluded the remark was made out of exasperation, with no intent to harm and no threat to the school.","causal_attribution":"Both the district's letter and the deputies' own conclusion are attributed; no source reports any contrary finding."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'it said the student teacher would not be returning to District 50 to complete her assignment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Superintendent Chad Allaman's letter: 'Volpe is not returning to the school to finish her educational assignment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The district told parents she would not return to District 50 to complete her educational assignment.","causal_attribution":"The district's decision is attributed to its own letter carried by two outlets."}],"effects":[{"label":"arrest and loss of a teaching placement after an automated flag escalated a private joke to law enforcement","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2026/04/10/how-an-fbi-tip-led-to-arrest-of-a-student-teacher-in-washington-illinois/88217675007/","kind":"news_report_foia_records","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-04-10T11:15Z; 34 paragraphs). Based on sheriff's deputy and detective reports plus body-camera footage obtained by FOIA from the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office.","independence_group":"pjstar"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/education/2025/01/30/washington-il-student-teacher-makes-inappropriate-shooting-comment-district-says/78061557007/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2025-01-30T23:13Z). Based on the District 50 email to parents; withheld the teacher's name.","independence_group":"pjstar"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/01/31/exasperated-student-teacher-wont-return-after-allegedly-commenting-about-shooting-student/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2025-01-31T17:07Z). Attributes to deputies and the school district; names the teacher from jail records — the name is deliberately not carried into this public record.","independence_group":"week-25news"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-london/2026/08/snapchat-scans-your-private-group-chats-and-a-22-year-old-teacher-found-out-when-deputies-showed-up-to-arrest-her-over-a-joke/","kind":"content_farm_rehash","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-08-02). Two substantive paragraphs, 'reportedly' framing, no place, date or document; derivative of the 2025 local reporting with embellishments. Recorded for provenance; never cited as support.","independence_group":"thought-catalog"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["education","work","justice","privacy"],"unknowns":["The disposition of the disorderly conduct charge (dismissal, plea, supervision) is not reported in the inspected sources.","The flagging technology Snapchat used (automated classifiers, hash matching or otherwise) is not specified in the inspected records.","Whether she continued teacher training elsewhere is not reported.","The school's name appears as 'John A. Hensey School' (Peoria Journal Star) and 'John L. Hensey Elementary School' (25News Now); the discrepancy is unresolved.","The exact interval between sending the message and the FBI referral is not stated; content-farm claims of 'within an hour' are unverified."],"geography":{"basis":"Event: John A. Hensey School, Washington, Illinois (25News Now renders the school name 'John L. Hensey Elementary School'), and the Tazewell County Jail. Affected person: the student teacher at that school. No court proceeding is reported, so court_countries is [].","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use automated-moderation case: a consequential institutional response (arrest, placement loss) to an automated flag of a private message, documented by FOIA-based local reporting. She is an adult; although local TV named her from jail records, she is not named here because deputies cleared her of intent and republication adds reputational risk without evidential value.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-15"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Police reports obtained under FOIA state 'the social media site flagged the message and warned the FBI', and the district's email says the language use 'triggered a report to law enforcement'; no human reporter was involved. The flagging technology (automated classifiers or otherwise) is not specified in the inspected records.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about","made_claim_about"]},"name":"Washington, Illinois: Snapchat flagged a student teacher's private joke to the FBI; she was arrested at her school and lost her placement","summary":"On 29 January 2025, a 22-year-old student teacher at a District 50 elementary school in Washington, Illinois, vented in a private Snapchat group chat with her boyfriend and two roommates after a third-grade student turned off her computer mid lesson-plan, asking whether she should 'shoot the child or just the whole school' (per sheriff's reports). Snapchat's systems flagged the message and warned the FBI, which notified the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office at 1:06 p.m. Deputies interviewed her at the school, confirmed she sent it as a joke, searched her phone and belongings with her consent and found no weapons, and arrested her on a disorderly conduct charge; they concluded she had spoken out of 'exasperation' with no intent to harm and no threat to the school. The district told parents she would not return to complete her educational assignment.","incidentDate":"2025-01-29","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-01-30","aiSystem":"Snapchat automated content-flagging system","aiProduct":"Snapchat content-flagging system","aiCompany":"Snap Inc.","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["legal_harm","professional_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A private joke flagged by an automated system led to an armed-response interview at her workplace, arrest and jail booking on a disorderly conduct charge, and the loss of her student-teaching placement, although deputies and the district concluded she never intended harm.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One documented harmed person: the student teacher, subject to the platform's institutional automated flagging (counted under institutional use, not as an AI user). No student or staff member was aware of the conversation per the district; the referenced third-grade student is not counted as harmed (deputies found no threat and no one else saw the private message).","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2026/04/10/how-an-fbi-tip-led-to-arrest-of-a-student-teacher-in-washington-illinois/88217675007/","primarySourceLabel":"Peoria Journal Star (10 Apr 2026) — FOIA-based account: sheriff's reports and body-camera footage","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-15T05:24:48.263548+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:21.046347+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["privacy","automated-moderation","snapchat","education","arrest","institutional-use","illinois"]}]}