Colorado grandma keeps getting pulled over due to database error

ticulatedspline•about 6 hours ago

source didn't read their own flippn article

Title

>Colorado Grandma Keeps Getting Pulled Over Because Police Cameras Cannot Tell the Difference Between a Zero and the Letter O

Article:

> The error exists in the database. The camera reads her plate correctly, matches it to the incorrect entry, and flags her as a suspect every single time.

nabbed•about 4 hours ago

My US-based car has an "O"-like character in my license plate number, and honestly I could not figure out whether it was the letter O or a zero (even after searching the state's DMV site for information on how to distinguish one from the other). The character is very square, so maybe that means it's the letter O.

If the headline is more correct ("Because Police Cameras Cannot Tell the Difference Between a Zero and the Letter O") than the article content (which contradicts that claim), then I am alarmed. Otherwise, I am less alarmed.

turtleyacht•about 4 hours ago

It's pretty hard to correct "that person does not live here" at the government level. Systems downstream pull it down and trust it completely.

The bureaucratic suggestion was to submit a form with wrong values on purpose, so it would be flagged for manual workaround. Could not believe they would ask for someone to lie on a form.

ranger_danger•about 2 hours ago

Similarly people seem to blindly trust any data found in a "leak". Imagine what someone could do if that information was tampered with before release.

freediddy•about 4 hours ago

The story isn't Flock cameras, it's because the police entered the license plates incorrectly.

crooked-v•about 4 hours ago

Flock delenda est, but why are any states even using both 0 and O in license plates in the first place?

tzs•about 2 hours ago

For normal plates this should not be a problem. Normal Colorado license plates have the format XXX-XNN where Xs are letters and Ns are digits. Someone getting 0 and O mixed up when entering a plate into a database should not cause false matches. It should only cause false mismatches.

I'd guess then that it must be vanity plates in these incidents. The state should fix that by not allowing a vanity plate to be issued that only differs from another vanity plate by 0/O changes. (Maybe also filter out 1/I changes).

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS•about 4 hours ago

That's what I was thinking. You can see in one photo on the article that the O is squared off, and the zero is rounded, but it still seems ripe for confusion.

mordechai9000•about 4 hours ago

I believe, in my state, similar looking characters are considered identical for vanity plates. I assumed this applied to state issued plate IDs as well, but maybe not. It's hard enough trying to read a license plate on the road without throwing in confusion over B vs 8 and O vs 0.

spuz•about 4 hours ago

Yeah this is a problem even without technology. I believe the UK does not use the letter O in standard registration numbers so it cannot be confused with 0.

jameskilton•about 4 hours ago

Flock is pure cruelty. All justice, no mercy. It needs to go away.

kkotak•about 4 hours ago

Yep. Imagine a young dark skinned man wearing a hoodie driving that car. Dramatically increase chances of an arrest or worse.

Colorado grandma keeps getting pulled over due to database error

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion (12 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews