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A running, sourced timeline of how license-plate readers, body cams and AI policing tools are actually going — and what the failures cost taxpayers.

Timeline / entry

· San Francisco, CA

San Francisco settles plate-misread gunpoint stop for $495,000

On March 30, 2009, San Francisco police pulled over Denise Green, a 47-year-old black woman, after the department’s automated license plate reader misread her plate and matched it to a stolen vehicle. Between four and six officers pointed guns at her and ordered her out of the car. After she was searched and her car searched, the police let her go. The ACLU later reported the reader had misread a ‘3’ as a ‘7’. A district court found against her; the Ninth Circuit reinstated the case in May 2014. In 2015 the Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance 181-15 authorizing a $495,000 settlement of her lawsuit.

$495,000Settlementreportedon THE TABAmount printed in San Francisco Ordinance No. 181-15 / Board file 150844 authorizing settlement of Green v. City and County of San Francisco.

Also in San Francisco, CA

5 entries over 17 yr 4 mo, oldest first. The gap is the time since the previous one.

  1. San Francisco settles plate-misread gunpoint stop for $495,000 this entry
  2. +16 yr 5 moSFPD let out-of-state agencies run 1.6 million searches of its Flock data, some for ICE
  3. +6 monthsClass action says Flock illegally shared Californians' plate data with federal and out-of-state agencies
  4. +4 monthsSFPD audit finds Flock camera data accessed on behalf of federal, out-of-state agencies
  5. +29 daysClass action alleges Motorola and Vigilant illegally shared California license plate data

Sources

  1. Ordinance No. 181-15 [Settlement of Lawsuit - Denise Green - $495,000] — San Francisco Board of Supervisors (sfbos.org)
  2. City and County of San Francisco - File #: 150844 — San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Legistar) (sfgov.legistar.com)
  3. San Francisco Woman Pulled Out of Car at Gunpoint Because of License Plate Reader Error — American Civil Liberties Union, May 13, 2014 (aclu.org)

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