Flock Cameras and yellow journalism

On the AZfamily evening newscast last evening (specifically it was the 9PM channel 3-1 broadcast on 9/18/2026) there was a segment from one of their “national” news investigative journalists that AZfamily uses as a time filler. I mention the specifics because I can’t find it online, which seems odd.

Anyway, this journalist has done previous segments on Flock cameras and he might have some sort of grudge or other reasons to present the story slanted against Flock. Last night’s piece in my paraphrase said that Flock caused some otherwise innocent person in Florida to go to jail for 11 days, and it was all flock’s fault, etc. but here’s the real story:

The case involves a fatal hit-and-run where the suspect vehicle was a Dodge Durango.

Here is a very detailed account from another outfit, investigatetv.com

A Flock camera hit sent troopers to her door. They had the wrong car.

And maybe that headline is a bit sensationalized, but it’s accurate as long as you understand that the ‘they’ refers to police, not Flock.

The arrest warrant (linked in the story) tells the whole tale, or rather the police’s side of the tale: the arrested girl’s Durango was in fact in the area of the incident; based not only on flock readers, but also surveillance footage. She also did herself no favors by lying (misremembering?) claiming she “did not go out after 6:30” when it appears from the evidence in the arrest warrant that she did. Those police located her black Durango in the parking lot and claimed it had scuff marks consistent with sideswiping a motorcyclist who died. The warrant also has very detailed eye witness account who specifically said it was a BLACK Durango. (keep in mind, an arrest warrant’s only job is to establish probable cause; however there is no mention in the warrant of conflicting colors from different witnesses).

According to her lawyer (she has a civil case against the police) the police screwed up dramatically — which they apparently did, we’ll have to wait and see what develops, the investigateTV linked above has the civil complaint.

As things turn out, it was a MAROON Durango; which was eventually located (A witness even called in a, turns out to be correct, partial plate number; this simple fact makes it inexplicable why investigators seized on this black Durango) and someone else got charged and convicted. The point is various witnesses described the suspect vehicle as white(!), maroon, and black — eye witnesses are sometimes unreliable! None of this has anything to do with wrong-doing by Flock. Flock appears to have been doing EXACTLY what it’s supposed to do — a crime occurred and law enforcement queried for Durango in some particular area for some particular time and got a list. (or however that works exactly; they got a list of plates and ran it thru their databases filtering on Durango.

There are many ways to abuse the data collected by ALPRs but this case is not one of them. It’s law enforcement’s job to investigate and sort through the competing eye witness leads as well as the physical evidence (the scuffs).

By the way, the criminal legal system — such as it is — in the end worked… charges were never filed.  As her lawyer stated in her civil complaint: “The State Attorney declined prosecution because it determined that Ms. Isaacs was innocent, that the evidence conclusively established there existed a different perpetrator, and that the charges were factually baseless”

License Plate Readers are particularly useful for vehicle crimes

Since hit-and-run drivers, when confronted lie lie lie. “I thought I hit a deer”.

Oops, here’s another fatal hit and run: Flock Cameras Catch Florida Woman Involved in a Fatal Hit-And-Run Nearly a Month Later

2 thoughts on “Flock Cameras and yellow journalism”

  1. AZ Family is running the same video you linked to. Are you sure this isn’t the video that you saw on air? Perhaps a cut down version?
    https://www.azfamily.com/2026/09/14/flock-camera-hit-sent-troopers-her-door-they-had-wrong-car/

    I think you kind of miss the main point of criticism of the Flock system which is the tendency for abuse. The main complaint is not that the system frequently fails. The problem is the huge potential for and mounting evidence of abuse. It doesn’t help that Flock has been caught in multiple lies about data collection, safety, and capabilities. And saying that the criminal system “in the end worked” misses the point by a wide margin when this is a good example of how the Flock system was abused and misused. As the woman’s attorney put it, “Absolutely confirmation bias, to the highest degree.”

    It is also worth noting that the apparently guilty person was located without the aid of Flock cameras through ordinary citizen reporting.

  2. It may have been yeah. The same guy was mad that a flock technician called the cops on him saying that he was stalking them (which I understand why he would be mad about that).
    And yes, I understand the main overall complaint is abuse… I’m seeing zero abuse of the flock system in this case. The cops queried specifically for a black Durango, and they got back information. That was based on what an eye witness told them, so I don’t see how that could be considered “abuse”. What transpired after that seems to fall under the category of misfeasance or malfeasance by police, entirely unrelated to ALPR.
    I have no idea how Florida criminal justice systems works specifically why she was locked up in county, but I’m sure you’ve seen the news about Talyn Vigil who has been arrested THREE times since he’s been out on bond after being indicted for murder.

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