We’ve moved past cops doing stuff because a dog gave them permission to do it. Now, we’re at the post-truth era of policing, where cops will do stuff because a machine told them to do it.
We already know ALPRs (automated license plate readers) generate false positives. And we know that these false positives can generate the sort of guns-out “encounters” no law-abiding citizen is prepared to handle. When you add addled “certainty” (an erroneous ALPR ping) to citizen bewilderment, things can get deadly pretty quickly.
But even when the guns don’t come out, it’s not because actual justice is being done. Cops are increasingly relying on tech to make decisions for them. And while your regular human being might acknowledge a blown judgment call of their own, they seem incapable of recognizing a mistake when it’s made by a computer.
That’s how we end up with situations like these, which seem like outtakes from a dystopian farce, rather than the new reality of American policing.
Supporters of Flock cameras and other automatic license plate readers often say that you have nothing to worry about if you’ve done nothing wrong. Yet a student in Georgia now has to fight a citation for not having insurance, despite presenting a valid insurance card when she was pulled over. It’s all thanks to an ALPR alert on her new car, reports WSB-TV.
There are things we’ve always been told are wise — if not imperative — to carry in any care we’re driving: driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. You do know why they call it proof of insurance, right?
Well, despite the fact that the officer could have verified all three of these things using the handy-dandy laptop that fired off the Flock alert, the officer apparently refused to do so and took Flock’s word for it instead.
“Upon showing proof of insurance in this instance, she was still issued a ticket citation,” Jones said in an interview with WSB-TV. She did everything she was supposed to do, including having insurance and presenting proof when requested. Apparently, even the proof that law enforcement requires isn’t good enough when the computer says otherwise. This wasn’t even a one-time fluke, either. The very next day, she got pulled over in nearby Cobb County for exactly the same reason.
The computer says you’re a criminal. The stuff law enforcement has always considered proof of legal vehicle use is no longer acceptable. The people cops tend to refer to as “subjects” in police reports are now being made aware that this isn’t a term of law enforcement art, but rather a reference to their position in comparison to those who supposedly enforce the law. Your word against a cop’s, as the “fighting a losing battle in court” saying goes. Now, it’s your word against a cop’s computer. And even if your word is the same word cops trusted prior to Flock’s arrival, it’s no longer worth the paper it’s printed on.