This could be why license plate readers misread Colorado plates
The short version: 9NEWS digs into why Colorado's plate format trips up ALPR cameras, a glitch that can turn a software misread into a felony traffic stop.
Our Take
9NEWS deserves credit for digging into a problem that sounds technical but has very real consequences: Colorado's 2018 switch to a four-letter, two-number plate format packs O's and zeros close together in ways that confuse automated license plate readers. When a camera misreads a character, it doesn't just log a typo — it can trigger a hit against a stolen vehicle or wanted-person list, sending officers rolling up on someone who did nothing wrong.
This is the part of the ALPR story that rarely gets attention. Flock Safety and similar systems are marketed as precision tools, but precision depends on optical character recognition working perfectly, every time, on every plate, in every lighting condition. It doesn't. When the software gets it wrong, the burden falls on ordinary drivers who suddenly find themselves staring down felony stops because a letter and a number look too much alike to a machine. Departments rarely own up to the error rate, and vendors have little incentive to publicize it.
If you want to know how many of these cameras are watching your own commute, check our camera map, and if you'd rather push back on blanket plate surveillance in your city, our take-action page has concrete steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 9NEWS, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.