ACLU says AI plate readers prompt police stops for travel patterns

The ACLU says US agencies use AI license-plate tools to stop drivers for travel patterns without a specific crime suspicion.

The ACLU says US agencies use automated license plate readers and AI scoring to stop drivers for travel patterns even when they are not suspected of a specific crime. In September 2025, Grace Knowles said an officer in northern Virginia stopped her after plate-scanning software marked her travel suspicious, showed a nationwide heat map and plate photos, and later identified himself as an FBI special agent. The ACLU links such stops to Flock Safety and similar systems sold by Flock and Axon, and to Border Patrol and fusion-center alerts that prompt local pretext stops. A federal jury in Texas sided with a driver who sued after a lane-drift stop tied to a fusion-center alert; the Institute for Justice said that county ran the routine on thousands of drivers. Some agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department, have suspended or ended Flock contracts. Flock did not immediately comment.