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... oel Feder, director of content and product for The Drive, says the now-viral tale ultimately can be traced to human error. But he said the mix-up demonstrates why improvements are needed as police departments partner with Flock and its private network of AI-powered license plate readers.
"They need better guardrails," Feder told "NewsNation Prime" on Saturday.
Feder and his wife were stopped by Plymouth, Minnesota, police officers late last month on suspicion of driving with license plates that were reported as stolen.
Human error in stolen plate database triggered traffic stop, driver says
"Are you serious?" Feder is seen asking in police bodycam video.
Complicating matters: Feder was driving a luxury Land Rover that was on loan to him to evaluate. This also took some explaining, he says.
Eventually, the source of the confusion was identified. The New Jersey manufacturer plates on the loan-out read 34 10 DTM, with the "10" in smaller type size, Feder said. A human had entered a stolen license plate in Los Angeles as 34 DTM, which became part of a national database that Flock uses while surveilling traffic.
He said ideally, Flock would have alerted police about that extra "10" in his license plate. Feder says when he brought that issue up with the company, officials cited "current system limitations of what the police are asking for."
Making matters worse, Feder says, is that police departments like Plymouth's, once they realize an error has occurred, cannot update regional systems or the national database to help prevent additional stops that aren't necessary.
"It's a one-way pipe," he said.
Flock cameras did not misread his license plates in this instance, Feder said, but statistics provided by the company suggest there is a broader problem.
"Flock reads 20 billion plates a month, and they have a 99 -- according to them -- percent accuracy (rate). But 1% of 20 billion is like 200 million. That's a lot of misreads every month."...
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Please don't look at Texas water and power.
Please don't look at Texas water and power.
Please don't...sorry. Power went out again. But water is back up for now!