Automatic License Plate Reader Misidentifies Vehicle in Arkansas Police Stop
An automatic license plate reader operated by Flock Safety misidentified a license plate (APX55X as APX55Y), leading Arkansas police to pull over an innocent family at gunpoint. The officer's incident report attributed the error to a broken license plate border rather than acknowledging the system's misidentification.
What happened
An automatic license plate reader (ALPR) owned and operated by Flock Safety alerted Sherwood Police to a black Chevrolet Tahoe, claiming it was stolen. The vehicle's actual plate was APX55X, but the ALPR misread it as APX55Y.
Officer Kinkade pulled over the Turbyfill family based on the ALPR alert. In his incident report, Kinkade initially attributed the misreading to a raised and broken license plate border on the vehicle, then blamed both the camera system and the plate border rather than acknowledging a direct misreading.
Reported impact
Police drew guns on the family during the traffic stop, which occurred in front of their children. Officers later departed the scene with the family's vehicle keys placed on top of a police cruiser, which they retrieved only upon returning to the location.
Index analysis
The incident demonstrates that ALPR systems can misidentify license plates, leading to law enforcement actions against innocent people. The officer's account and subsequent report shifting blame to external factors rather than system error highlights how misidentifications may be compounded when their source is not properly acknowledged.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.