Flock camera wrongly flags uninsured car
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Flock cameras wrongly flagged insured cars, ticketing drivers in Atlanta and Cobb County.
The errors push innocent drivers into court and raise doubts about automated policing.
Background
Flock cameras are license-plate readers police use to flag stolen cars, wanted suspects, missing persons and Amber and Silver alerts. In these cases the system produced false insurance flags: a newly bought car was wrongly reported as uninsured, and drivers who had proof of coverage were still ticketed. Similar misreads have been reported elsewhere, including a New Mexico plate misread that wrongly flagged a car as stolen.
How it unfolded
- Jul 2026A license plate-reading camera in Española, New Mexico, misread the 2 on Jaclynn Gonzales' plate as a 7, incorrectly flagging her car as stolen.
- Sep 7, 2026Flock cameras in Atlanta and Cobb County mistakenly ticketed a driver for out-of-date insurance.
- Sep 9, 2026Reports circulate of a young girl pulled over after a Flock camera wrongly told officers her newly bought car had no insurance; she showed proof of insurance but the officer wrote the ticket anyway.
- Sep 10, 2026Coverage notes the student now has to appear in court to challenge the citation despite having documentation showing her vehicle was insured.
Who’s saying what
- Critics
- Commentator Charles Fain Lehman argued the problem is the officer, noting the girl showed proof of insurance and the cop wrote the ticket anyway.
- Public
- A woman in Volusia County said she was wrongly arrested and spent 13 days in jail because of a Flock camera mistake, and it took her months to get her car back.
- Public
- An Amarillo father said he altered his family's daily routines after discovering a camera error.
Still unverified
The Volusia County arrest and 13-day jail account comes from a single social media post and has not been independently confirmed. The Española, New Mexico, plate misread is also reported via social media.