Flock Cameras Got the Wrong License Plate 71% of the Time in California City

Flock Safety claims to have over 120,000 cameras equipped with automatic license plate readers and more than 12,000 customers 49 states, effectively putting automated eyes meant to spot traffic violations on the roads just about everywhere in the country. Turns out those eyes might need to get their sight checked. According to a report from Business Insider, an analysis of alerts sent from Flock cameras to the Roseville Police Department in California found that a majority of the plates identified by Flock were incorrect.

The analysis focused on a two-year period between 2023 and 2024, in which Roseville PD received 1,427 alerts from Flock cameras. Those alerts were meant to notify the department when a license plate associated with some sort of criminal behavior passes by the stationary camera, flagging everything from cars supposedly used in felony crimes or vehicles that have been reported stolen. In 71% of cases that generated an alert related to vehicles that were stolen or used in a felony, the system misread the license plate, seemingly producing false positives. [MORE]