License plate readers keep misreading O's on Colorado plates

Our Take

Credit to 9NEWS for digging into a problem Flock and other ALPR vendors would rather you not think about too hard: these cameras aren't nearly as infallible as the marketing suggests. If a basic font quirk on a state-issued plate can throw off automated readers enough that Colorado's DMV had to redesign plates around it, that tells you everything about how much faith police departments and prosecutors are putting in software that's apparently still tripped up by the letter O.

This isn't just a funny glitch. Misreads feed directly into wrongful stops, mistaken identity, and bad data sitting in law enforcement databases that get cross-referenced against your movements for years. When the error rate is high enough that a state government has to change its plate design to accommodate the cameras, it's worth asking who's really being served here — the public, or the surveillance infrastructure itself. Drivers shouldn't have to adapt their government-issued ID to make a private company's product work correctly.

We'd also note: plate redesigns don't fix the underlying issue of networks that track every car, every trip, with no warrant and little oversight. Check our map to see what's watching you in Colorado and elsewhere, and visit take action if you want to push back on ALPR expansion in your community.