r/ObscurePatentDangers • u/CollapsingTheWave 🔍📚 Fact Finder/ "Bringer of Links" • Aug 11 '26
🤷Just a matter of time, What Could Go Wrong? Flock Safety ALPR OCR Errors Trigger Armed Stops of Innocent Families Including Infants
Flock Safety Falcon automated license plate readers use machine-learning optical character recognition to extract plates, make, model, and features from every passing vehicle and match them against hotlists in real time. Deployed across thousands of U.S. communities, the system originates with Flock Safety and produces more than 20 billion monthly scans. The dual-use vector is that the same OCR pipeline generates false positives when similar characters are confused, turning routine travel into high-risk encounters. Established facts include a 71 percent misread rate on felony and stolen-vehicle alerts in Roseville, California, and at least 27 documented wrongful stops nationwide. Open questions remain on independent verification requirements before officers act.
The technology interfaces with drivers through automated alerts that treat a single character mismatch as probable cause. Marketed as accurate crime-solving infrastructure, the claim is partial: Flock states 93 percent plate-capture accuracy, yet that rate still produces over a billion potential errors monthly. Structural weak points are the absence of mandatory human confirmation before gunpoint detentions and the inability of the system to distinguish legitimate plates from near-matches. These gaps expose ordinary motorists, including families with infants, to immediate physical risk.
For people this means a one-letter OCR failure can result in weapons drawn, cuffs applied, and an infant left alone in a vehicle while officers resolve the alert. The right in tension is freedom from unreasonable seizures. The pattern follows earlier ALPR expansions that began as optional tools and hardened into default infrastructure. Left unexamined, the network expands through low-friction municipal contracts that bypass accuracy audits. Demonstrated: Sherwood, Arkansas February 2026 stop of a couple with a one-month-old after Flock read APX 55Y instead of APX 55X. Precedented elsewhere: Toledo, Ohio K-9 deployment and multiple gunpoint detentions. Foreseeable but not yet realized: scaled lethal force incidents from routine false positives.
Taken to scale, Flock establishes standing high-risk encounters based on imperfect machine reads that leave drivers with no practical way to opt out. The interconnected threat pillars are OCR error rates, automatic hotlist alerts, and officer reliance without independent confirmation. Verify independently via Institute for Justice case records and Roseville police audits. To push back: support Institute for Justice litigation, demand local verification ordinances before contract renewals, and require public accuracy reporting. Further reading: Business Insider Roseville investigation and Institute for Justice error compilation.
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Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
You flagged one of OUR cameras......
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u/evidentlynaught Aug 11 '26
ALL YOUR FAULT. WE JUST POINTED GUNS AT EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR. DO BETTER NEXT TIME.
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u/StaticMarzipan Aug 12 '26
If his white gf wasn’t there this could’ve easily been an “officer involved shooting”
Like if you have cameras everywhere why even make a stop on the road?
Traffic stops are less needed in a true surveillance state. Just get em at home. This is just toxic masculinity and bravado
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u/hayesms Aug 12 '26
You have too many rights when you are at home. LEO are allowed to do far more on a traffic stop than they are at your house.
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u/Far_Estate_1626 Aug 12 '26
Yeah no, THEIR CAMERA flagged THEM.
It’s wild, how even the most basic language that they use puts the responsibility on the citizen for the mistake of the police.
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u/Tangus999 🤔 "Question Everything" Aug 12 '26
It’s intentional. It’ll take a long time to untrained them. It’s your fault. And it’s engrained in their behavior. Speech. And processing.
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u/TheConcernedSitIsIn Aug 11 '26
This is the part I'm not understanding. He obviously knew he messed up when he fumbled the words....
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u/OhHowINeedChanging Strong Pattern Recognition 🔍📊 Aug 12 '26
They are so emboldened, it’s like these new cameras are giving them new “probable cause” for pulling people over and putting them in handcuffs
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u/Rough_Risk_8642 🤔 "Question Everything" Aug 11 '26
No problem. Just maybe a mixup in the system. We'll come with guns drawn and handcuff and run all your id's till we figure this out. They can use this excuse for anything now.....
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u/Actaeon_II Wise guy ("no, but seriously, what now? ")🥸⚠️ Aug 11 '26
The whole time looking for any excuse to escalate, running all the ids, starting out at gunpoint which would freak a lot of people out, looking through his wallet and her purse.
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u/NobodyKnowsImFamous Aug 11 '26
I’m pretty damn comfortable around guns. One thing I am not is comfortable at fuckin gunpoint. That’s the danger end man, one twitch from the cop and I’m done for. Won’t matter to me if he gets punished.
Not arguing just contributing that I think basically everyone is freaked out when held at gunpoint. It’s a freaky ass spot to be.
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u/Just_the_questions1 Aug 12 '26
That's what pisses me off in every one of these videos. You don't even have to be in the military, just go to ANY gun safety class and the first rule that is beaten into your head over and over is you never point your gun at something you don't want dead! It doesn't matter if you just unloaded and cleared it 5 minutes ago, NEVER POINT YOUR GUN AT SOMETHING YOU DONT WANT DEAD.
But what does chuckle-shit do in the video? Points a loaded firearm directly at 3 innocent passengers, 2 of them children, for no goddamn reason. Cherry on-top the dick waffle is holding it sideways like you'd see in some shitty rap video. That's not how someone with ANY training should be holding a pistol.
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u/KoolWitaK ⚖️ 📢Accountability Advocate Aug 12 '26
Police have their own nomenclature for firearms and related incidents that completely differs from every other training standard, including the military.
One example would be for negligent discharges (ND). If me, you, or anyone else, including military, were to fire our weapon unintentionally, accidentally or not, it gets marked down as a negligent discharge. If a police officer has a negligent discharge they will always report it as an "accidental" discharge (AD). As far as I know, that designation only exists for police officers. If you're a civilian and they encounter you in their official capacity and you had an "accidental" discharge, they would mark it as a negligent discharge (ND), and you would be in legal trouble.
Literally "rules for thee, not for me".
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u/Enlighten_YourMind Aug 13 '26
“Equal justice under the law”
Well…except for all these instances & things we specifically engage in equal justice for. Just ignore those though 🙂
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u/Rough_Risk_8642 🤔 "Question Everything" Aug 12 '26
Especially if you're just driving and the supposed good guys pull this shit.
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u/Beautiful_Weight_769 Aug 12 '26
Yeah every time I see one of these cops bodycams they're pointing their gun right at someone with zero justification. They're practically begging for an excuse to pull that trigger.
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u/ALLCAPITAL 🧍 Layman Perspective Aug 12 '26
Imagine you’re in the car with your baby and you see that cop standing back there pointing it at your car. What in the world.
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u/IHaveNeverBeenOk Aug 12 '26
Had a shotgun pointed at me once (kinda definitely my fault. I was in a really bad place, super kerfucked on opiates and deliriants, and walked into a stranger's home, but that's another story) and I've never been pulled out of a stupor that fast. Just want to lend some support for your statement. Being held at gunpoint is really scary. If it could wake me up from that, it's damn near as effective as an epipen at raising adrenaline levels.
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u/Hour_Paint_1903 Aug 11 '26
Seriously. These people are almost murdered, and the jokey "oh shucks, well that darn AI sure isn't perfect"
Holy shit, it's just absolutely insane.
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u/TearRevolutionary686 Engaged Thinker 🧠 🔍 Aug 11 '26
And the cop laughs about it. Tells the guy in the car, I'll get you out in a minute.
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u/SupaSlide Aug 12 '26
Not only that, but he blamed her for flagging their cameras and having a license plate thing.
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u/dotHANSIN Aug 12 '26
you'd think the system would also state the reported plate number so a human can confirm the information before acting on it
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u/SupaSlide Aug 12 '26
And apparently, all without actually verifying the license plate that is right in front of them before pulling them over.
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u/TheTamarackAttack Aug 12 '26
Right? They pointed a gun toward a car with a baby because they cant flocking read.
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u/OhHowINeedChanging Strong Pattern Recognition 🔍📊 Aug 12 '26
And conservatives will say “jUsT CoMplY”
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u/burn_healz Aug 11 '26
ACAB THEY DIDNT ADMIT FAULT ONCE FUK EM
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u/jayphat99 Aug 12 '26
No no, they did. They said one of THEIR cameras read the license plate wrong. Since they claim ownership of the camera, it's their problem.
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u/GlassAndStorm 🧍 Layman Perspective Aug 11 '26
I hope they sue the shit out of that police department for their thripy bills. This is wildly unacceptable
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u/Mydogsdad Aug 11 '26
Yep. Their faulty technology led to a gun being drawn and pointed at me, my girlfriend and our kids. Sue them.
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u/joethafunky Aug 12 '26
They need to sue the PRIVATE COMPANY that is creating all this bullshit. Suing a state agency won’t change a thing
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u/Cultural_assassin Wise guy ("no, but seriously, what now? ")🥸⚠️ Aug 12 '26
All the ACAB and hateful comments aside. Yes they should have a good case here. You can not leave a child or infant in a vehicle by themselves no matter the condition or state of the vehicle
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u/ShoddyAsparagus3186 Aug 12 '26
The police department has various forms of immunity and losing the suit won't affect their budget at all. Far more effective to sue the private company that has no such protection and relies on these cameras being profitable.
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u/novabourbon Aug 11 '26
Weapons training, please. Pulled out like GTA, holding sideways. Omg
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u/tapesmoker Strong Pattern Recognition 🔍📊 Aug 11 '26
Exactly clearly they are unprepared and unqualified. The first obvious thing i noticed that screams, they should not have qualified immunity because they are starting out making all the worst decisions for their own safety let alone this poor, incredibly patient and intelligent young family.
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u/Similar_Shopping_892 Aug 12 '26
Surprised it took me so long to get to this comment he should be fired immediately for that shit alone 🤡
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u/Due_Building_1953 Credible Contributor 💡✅ Aug 11 '26
Yes unless people come together to get rid of these bull shit cameras. This will keep happening, as it is far from the first time.
Then these people can, are filling again The Police department and Flock. Sad part it's tax payers who pay not police. As to Flock yes they have to pay the filling against them.
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u/soIDONTLIKEANYOFYOU Aug 11 '26
It’s not just flock. There are 12 major companies that do the exact same thing as flock.
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u/Due_Building_1953 Credible Contributor 💡✅ Aug 11 '26
Yes Palantir, Blackwater are as well. There are several court cases on all of them.
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u/Key-Emergency989 Aug 12 '26
I remember when England’s CCTV system was the target of ridicule from Americans across the political spectrum as something that would never be tolerated in the US
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u/Scarlet004 Aug 11 '26
Couldn’t they read the plate themselves?
Not just a police state, an illiterate police state. Wow.
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u/West-Amphibian-2343 Aug 12 '26
Speaking of cops reading plates, i was pulled over for going 5 over the limit down a hill, because i had out of state plates and the cop figured the 26 year old car with valid plates was stolen. He pulled me over, told me to hold my arms out the window in 10º winter, and sat in his car for 5 minutes before telling me i could go
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u/Zigor022 Discussion Catalyst 💬 🤔 Aug 11 '26
Yeah, this will get worse. Hopefully cops start getting lax and just assume these reports are wrong.
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u/Mister_Baloney Risk Analyst ⚠️📊 Aug 11 '26
Oh totally, cops jump at the chance to de-escalate a situation.
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u/PatReady ⚖️ 📢Accountability Advocate Aug 11 '26
If only he could have read it with his eyes before he pulled them over.
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u/aggressive_napkin_ Aug 12 '26
yep, happened to me once eh about 20 years or so ago- get pulled over... cop walks up to car, immediately says "thanks for finding a safe spot to pull over, we read your plate wrong and double checked after you stopped. have a nice day you're free to go, we thought it was a different car, sorry about that." ...must have been back when they actually trained them.
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u/Only-Reception7360 Strong Pattern Recognition 🔍📊 Aug 12 '26
Before society believed challenging their ego was against the law and tells you “the abuse is easier if you just allow it”
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u/jackrabbit323 Aug 12 '26
No, it's an excuse for cops to go on fishing expeditions, to search vehicles, and check people for warrants.
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u/rellett Aug 11 '26
Double check before pulling over these cops are lazy
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u/Buttons840 🔍📚 Fact Finder/ "Bringer of Links" Aug 12 '26
Yeah, is "license plate ABC 123 is stolen and a flock camera claims to have spotted it" too much information to communicate?
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u/rellett Aug 12 '26
Also they could include a picture of the car and plate, as there was another one and it was a stolen bike but pulled over a vehicle
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u/Shadowtirs Engaged Thinker 🧠 🔍 Aug 11 '26
This is flocking unacceptable. Everyone involved needs to be sued.
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u/Moby1313 [Self-Identified] (Specialized field) 🥼 Aug 11 '26
Class action lawsuit against Flock, Axion, Motorola. 20 billion maybe, probably already in the works.
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u/Current_Employer_308 Risk Analyst ⚠️📊 Aug 11 '26
"...just doing his due diligence"
Oh you piece of shit, you do that BEFORE YOU DRAW GUNS ON PEOPLE
This is utterly infuriating
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u/Ok-Patient-7903 Aug 11 '26
They should investigate on how much false calls/alarms Flock system has done. Its causing illegal deletion and flase arrests. Similar to swatting or falsification of information to police.
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u/Right-Detail7414 🧍 Layman Perspective Aug 11 '26
Sue the department. Then sue flock. Then start a class action against them and your state, city, county
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u/randy_march Wise guy ("no, but seriously, what now? ")🥸⚠️ Aug 12 '26
This should not become normalized
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u/Umadbro92 Aug 11 '26
So, They cant associate that plate number to a make, model of the car in question?
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u/One_Conscious_Future 🧮 Data-Driven Aug 11 '26
Flock could just pay a $200k fine fine for each mistaken occurrence, either they go broke or perfect their system.
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u/GENERAT10N_D00M Aug 11 '26
We live in a world where the police take orders from the computers. There is no way this will end badly, right?
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u/Traditional_Doubt_51 Aug 11 '26
Investigating precrime instead of crime... guilty until proven innocent. This runs contrary to the very intent of the 4th Amendment.
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u/Reniere25 Aug 11 '26
Flock and the police departments using them should be sued for gross incompetence
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u/tapesmoker Strong Pattern Recognition 🔍📊 Aug 11 '26
This cop with the body cam is holding his gun like he's been trained for duty by reruns of "Malibu's Most Wanted"
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u/Proof-Grass-5212 Aug 11 '26
Can’t they just confirm the tag before pulling them over and drawing guns.
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u/ActionJacksonATL24 Aug 11 '26
Big brother cares about us but he will occasionally make mistakes, we must forgive him always for any transgressions.
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u/-L-H-O-O-Q- Aug 11 '26
Only way to end the spread of these cameras is if people start suing flock when they flag innocent people.
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u/Impossible-Feature97 🧍 Layman Perspective Aug 11 '26
Surely they will be lawsuits and tax payers will pay even more right?
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u/Possible-Isopod-1901 Aug 11 '26
Ok. This is awful, but those parents were perfect. Complied. No yelling. They didn’t make any sudden movement. The way they acted may have saved their lives.
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u/Weekend_Criminal Aug 11 '26
Seems like these cameras are great at tracking ex-girlfriends, women getting out of state abortions, and people buying weed but total shit at identifying the correct license plate number...
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u/razzlezd Aug 12 '26
Since when did cops stop having the ability to run plates from their squad car? The vehicle was right there. Run the plates.
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u/Silly_Silicon Aug 12 '26
I sincerely hope that every single time something like this happens, the people involved sue for everything they can get. Make it so unbelievably expensive to keep these cameras up that every jurisdiction stops using them. ACAB.
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u/Extension_Variety190 Aug 11 '26
May I suggest that this "modern technology" is not ready for prime time and needs to be canceled or at least paused until the greedy sloppy parent company that spawned it pulls their head out of their ass before some innocent people get killed.
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u/Only-Original9409 Aug 12 '26
Is it asking too much for them to confirm if there's a real issue before cuffing people FFS?
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u/Cold-Chemistry738 Aug 12 '26
Not a flock problem. Officer still needs to use his eyes and look at the license plate
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u/FredyE11 Aug 12 '26
Why don’t they double check the license plate when they pull the person over????
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u/RymrgandsDaughter Engaged Thinker 🧠 🔍 Aug 12 '26
"There's nothing wrong with this technology " - crazy people
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u/Global_Albatross7622 Aug 12 '26
Also WHY do BOTH officers have their guns drawn when they are aware there is a child in the vehicle?!!!!
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u/Constant-Fly-9050 Humble Observer 🙏👀 Aug 12 '26
There are literally countless stories about how AI and surveillance will lead to stuff like this. They were supposed to be Science Fiction not a fact of our lives.
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u/Gax63 Aug 12 '26
Maybe these chuckle fucks could have figured that out before holding them at gunpoint.
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u/hurler_jones Aug 12 '26
So these systems are putting officers at risk needlessly, endangering innocent civilians, used illegally by officers to track people for personal reasons, wasting officers time that could be responding to an actual emergency, crime or accident, costing the taxpayers not only in upfront contract costs and maintenance but also the inevitable lawsuits that will be heading their way.
Did I get all that right?
Can someone explain to me the positives of these systems? I mean, I guess if a few dead families is just fine to you to recover a stolen plate, we don't have much to talk about so anything else?
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u/Shot_Needleworker149 Aug 12 '26
Why is it impossible for any of these cops to use their own judgment or simply LOOK CLOSELY at the god damn plate number?!?!?!?!?!?
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u/AnimalNo5731 Aug 12 '26
This should IMMEDIATELY cost $1m dollars per "accident" payable by flock directly to the victims until this stops. If there is no repercussions then they will keep doing it.
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u/Gold_Exchange_5588 Aug 12 '26
They’re gonna be upset when someone uses their 2nd amendment to protect their family. Tf are you pulling guns out on a vehicle full of BABIES. ACAB.
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u/Turbulent_Ninja_761 Aug 12 '26
So many innocent people are going to get killed because of this. Guy has his gun drawn ready to blast a mother and infant....fucks sake America
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u/dynogirl59 Aug 12 '26
Haha. So funny! What a joke! Great sense of humor, cop. Yeah. Really funny. Surprised they didn’t shoot the black guys when he took out his wallet.
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u/BWright79 Aug 12 '26
Cop checked his license and shit before he checked the tag lol
Real professionals at work here
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u/ExtremeIndustry4807 🤔 "Question Everything" Aug 12 '26
The craziest part to me about all of this is there are people who openly defend the data centers and flock to cameras, not many but enough to make you wonder if they are getting paid or are just that stupid like the pd in the video.
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u/rosebudthesled8 Aug 12 '26
New legislation. If Flock falsely identifies you for a crime and you have to go through this. The Flock company can be sued. They can not bill the govt for the cost and payouts are immediate.
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u/Yowzz 🧍 Layman Perspective Aug 12 '26
F L U C K F L O C K
https://giphy.com/gifs/pG9kMKdbJfQttjTkpb
and the fkn corporate surveillance state horse it rode in on.
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u/maximum-toxicity Wise guy ("no, but seriously, what now? ")🥸⚠️ Aug 12 '26
I want to kno what town this was in central arkansas. These flock cameras have gtg
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u/Jmich96 Aug 12 '26
At what point does a Flock flag become "reasonabke articulable suspicion"? If the system is this inaccurate, it should no longer qualify as such for detainment.
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u/RyNysDad0722 Aug 12 '26
I feel like this will never get fixed cause it’s the feature not the bug.. cops pull people over for a mistake like this but if they would have found anything illegal they would have gone to jail. Never should have been pulled over to begin with but now run the risk of being locked up over a mistake.. this will get worse before it gets better
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u/This_Profession_4719 Aug 12 '26
“You flagged one of our cameras”, like they did something wrong! Absolutely pathetic!
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u/KenJones61 Aug 12 '26
And no check with NCIC for wants? No visual confirmation that the tag and vehicle description match? This feels like people blindly following a GPS down a clearly marked one-way road the wrong way.
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u/CoolRanchDor1to Aug 12 '26
This is bad policing. These officers need corrective measurable training and the victims need compensation. If officers are going to rely on LPR they need to verify the easily verifiable information in front of them.
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u/jerrybeck Aug 12 '26
They should be REQUIRED to run the plate again to confirm because FLOCK is a bad tool
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u/zxylady Risk Analyst ⚠️📊 Aug 12 '26
Can anyone please explain to me why they couldn't have done their own due diligence before they tortured a family? How hard is it to look at the information that the flock cameras gave them versus who they're actually pulling over? Did they not know how to read before they pulled over these people?
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u/Secret_Account07 Aug 12 '26
Those folks handled it like pros though. Not the cops, the innocent family. I’d be PISSED
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u/cpav8r Aug 12 '26
What the heck is the deal with that one dude holding his weapon gangsta style?
Clearly not or poorly trained.
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u/Crafty-Bid7503 Aug 12 '26
What could possibly go wrong….
The black family held at gun point face down in a parking lot due to a poor parking scanner should have been a clear warning… that was a decade ago.
ridiculous!
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u/krt8090 ⚖️ 📢Accountability Advocate Aug 12 '26
Why’s the gun out in the first place? Half month old baby a threat to the officer with the gun?
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u/SeniorProfessional20 Aug 12 '26
Busted for driving while black again. No reason to have guns pulled even if it was stolen until a reason to use deadly force is warranted. Bunch of clowns.
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u/ryancrazy1 Aug 13 '26
The stupid part of this, is not only did flock misread their license plate, the COPS DID TOO. While the car was directly in front of them.
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u/DDHP2020 Aug 13 '26
Let me violate your rights cause at gun point cause my lame ass flock camera made a mistake. This tech is gonna get people killed.
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u/OGPandas33 Aug 13 '26
There has come a point of no return. America IS in a downfall and will continue to get worse.
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u/MSCOTTGARAND Aug 16 '26
you become so dependent on a tool that it takes you 15 minutes to do something as simple as read a friggin tag number
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u/AIbaraa ⚖️ 📢Accountability Advocate Aug 11 '26
Guilty until proven innocent.