Flock cameras keep telling police a man who doesn't have a warrant has a warrant

johnbarron 180 points 139 comments May 01, 2026
www.youtube.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (12 comments)

baby_souffle

Is there some argument to aid here that this constitutes or facilitates systemic harassment? Or is that just going to be nigh on impossible to use as grounds for a lawsuit?

LocalH

Flock should be shut down and their entire c-suite should be sent to prison for human rights violations Also, not just an isolated incident: https://youtu.be/8BImTddknfk We need strong laws preventing any AI process from being used for law enforcement at all . The mere presence of AI at any step in the process should result in complete exoneration.

vorticalbox

In the video he said that the courts ask "who is the warrant for" and he replied "no one", but surely one could also look up the number plate and find it that way?

LocalH

Since I got downvoted, this isn't just this guy. https://youtu.be/8BImTddknfk Turns out police are putting ambiguous plates in the system under all variants, and Flock is lapping it up. The cops who do so should also go to prison.

pj_mukh

Paraphrasing the crux of the issue: "It's regular practice in Colorado to list license plates with both versions, the one with 'O's and the other with Zeros in the warrant list." Insane. Practice. As always, this story has have nothing to do with the cameras or AI, but "law enforcement has an insane lazy practice" doesn't make for a very good headline anymore.

gdulli

Law enforcement, from the same industry that brought you targeted ads recommending refrigerators because you just bought a refrigerator.

sirtimbly

Impersonal, tech-mediated surveillance was clearly the next logical step for law enforcement after the events of 2020.

kevin_thibedeau

I've had two police stops in the past initiated by ALPR systems fraudulently claiming I didn't have a valid registration. Presumably because the state that issued the plates didn't share such data. I wasn't motivated to do anything about it but something more severe like this should be fought with a multimillion dollar libel suit against the C-suite and board.

calin2k

the number of flock apologists comments in this post are a aberration from normal, there must be an artificial factor at play

FrankWilhoit

This is the future. Does the future also have good things in it? Maybe! But they don't matter, and this is why.

frogperson

This man should sue for libel.

rolph

when you use typos to broaden the scope of a warrant to include individuals that have not commited crime or acts prerequisite to indictment, you are exceeding the authority granted by a justice. i would like to be privy to such discourse, as "your honour we need to include spellings of name or other identifiers, contrary to those of the person in the warrant you have issued."

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