TENNESSEE · FLOCK · OCR ERROR

A character-recognition error reportedly turned a family trip into a guns-out police stop.

O / 0 confusion → wrong vehicle alert → high-risk stop

In Morristown, Tennessee, a Flock ALPR reportedly confused the letter O with the number zero. Police detained two grandparents at gunpoint while their three-year-old granddaughter was in the vehicle before the mistake was resolved.

Failure mode: Optical character recognition. A tiny transcription difference can radically change the threat officers believe they are approaching.

Source: Institute for Justice incident review

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