Unverified Misreading by Automated Plate Reader Led to Traffic Stop and Restraint of an Innocent Person at Gunpoint in California

March 30, 2009

In San Francisco, an automated license plate reader (ALPR) incorrectly identified a vehicle as stolen due to misinterpretation of the number plate. Despite poor image quality and multiple opportunities for visual confirmation, the police proceeded with a traffic stop at gunpoint, restraining an innocent person in handcuffs. This incident underscores the importance of trustworthy AI governance and the need for safeguards to prevent harm.

Join Project Cerebellum to help shape HISPI Project Cerebellum TAIM—Govern to establish guardrails for AI like this one to ensure safe and secure practices on our roads.

Matched TAIM controls

Suggested mapping from embedding similarity (not a formal assessment). Browse all TAIM controls

MEASURE 2.6 — similarity 0.654, rank 1. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MAP 1.6 — similarity 0.654, rank 2. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MAP 4.1 — similarity 0.649, rank 3. TAIM detail and related incidents →

Alleged deployer: san-francisco-police-department
Alleged developer: unknown
Alleged harmed parties: denise-green

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/245

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.