AI incident ·
Kansas Couple Reportedly Stopped Twice in Kansas and Oklahoma After Flock Safety Alerts Linked Their Plate Number to a Stolen Vehicle
On this page 8 sections
In brief
An AI system built by Surveillance technology, Privacy and 3 others and deployed by Police departments in the United States, Law enforcement and 2 others allegedly harmed Road users, Motorists and 3 others.
- Risk domain
- Not classified
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 1 report
What happened
Matthew and Leah Spurlock were reportedly stopped in Colwich, Kansas, and about a month later in Catoosa, Oklahoma, after Flock Safety cameras associated their KU alumni plate 7007 with a stolen GMC pickup bearing a temporary Kansas tag with the same number. Colwich police quickly resolved the first stop; in Catoosa, the couple said officers drew guns and handcuffed Matthew. Wichita police said Flock reads plate characters but not plate type.
Editor's notes
(1) The Colwich stop occurred about one month before the October 2023 Catoosa stop; the source does not provide exact dates for either encounter. (2) The two stops are treated as one recurring episode because they involved the same couple, vehicle, duplicate plate number, and Flock-related mechanism. (3) 01/30/2024 is used as the incident ID date as the earliest public report located; the first stop appears to have occurred around September 2023, but the source does not establish an exact date. (4) The incident ID was created 09/23/2026.
Laws on record for this risk area
No instrument on record yet covers this risk area where it happened. See the open queue.
Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (1)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Police departments in the United States Law enforcement Colwich Police Department (Kansas) Catoosa Police Department (Oklahoma)
- Alleged developer
- Surveillance technology Privacy Flock Safety Epistemic integrity Automated license plate reader (ALPR) developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Road users Motorists Matthew Spurlock Leah Spurlock Drivers
AI systems implicated
Surveillance technologyFlock Safety automated license plate reader systemAutomated license plate readers (ALPR)
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
- —
- Risk subdomain
- —
- Causal entity
- —
- Intent
- —
- Timing
- —
- Harm level
- —
- Sectors
- —
- Countries
- —
Related incidents
Linked by editors or by text similarity in the source dataset.
Other incidents involving Police departments in the United States
- Stow, Massachusetts, Police Officer Allegedly Used Flock License-Plate Reader System to Track Former Romantic Partner
- Flock Safety License-Plate Reader Reportedly Misread Plate, Leading Toledo, Ohio, Police to Stop Motorist at Gunpoint and Deploy K-9
- York County, South Carolina, Deputies Reportedly Held Local Motorist at Gunpoint After Flock Safety License-Plate Reader Misread
- Milwaukee Police Detective Allegedly Used Flock Safety License-Plate Reader 20 Times to Track Two People in Violation of Department Policy
- Sedgwick, Kansas, Police Chief Reportedly Used Flock Safety License-Plate Readers 228 Times to Track Ex-Girlfriend and Her New Boyfriend
Source record: incident #1704 on the AI Incident Database · all 1 report