Use of force

On August 4, 2026, Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. The suit seeks the release of body-camera and dashboard-camera footage from a fatal police shooting in Roxbury on March 11. Both agencies denied public records requests, citing an investigatory exemption. The lawsuit argues this exemption does not outweigh the public interest in the footage. It asks the court to order release and award attorney’s fees.

In June 2025, Morristown, Tennessee, police stopped a grandfather and grandmother as they drove to a doctor’s appointment with their 3-year-old granddaughter. The grandmother’s Ford Expedition carried a vanity plate reading ‘LOVEY’; a Ford F-150 reported stolen in Claiborne County carried a plate reading ‘L0VEY’ with a zero. A license plate reader treated the two as a match. Officers drew guns on the grandfather as he got out; the grandmother said a laser sight rested on her chest while she told officers there was a baby in the car. Officers found the discrepancy and released them. The Institute for Justice lists the case as a Flock camera ‘O’ for ‘0’ misread among at least 27 ALPR-error stops since 2018. No lawsuit or payment is reported.

On February 5, 2024, the family’s attorney announced that the City of Aurora, Colorado, had agreed to a $1.9 million settlement with Brittney Gilliam, who was pulled over in 2020 with four children in the car and ordered out at gunpoint. Officers had believed the car was stolen. The plate number matched a stolen motorcycle, but the motorcycle was registered in Montana and the car carried Colorado plates. Reports say an automated license plate reader flagged the plate and officers did not check the state before conducting a felony stop. Children were handcuffed on the pavement. Video of the stop circulated widely. The city paid the settlement from public funds. Reports do not name the ALPR vendor.

On July 23, 2022, Española, New Mexico, police stopped a car driven by Jaclynn Gonzales, then 21, with her 12-year-old sister as a passenger, after a Flock Safety camera flagged the plate as belonging to a vehicle stolen from Rio Rancho. The plate ended in a 2, which the camera read as a 7; the two plates differed by one character. A sergeant ordered Gonzales out at gunpoint before dispatch had confirmed the plate. An officer asked the child whether she had weapons, handcuffed her and placed her in a patrol vehicle. Officers then checked the plate and VIN and found the mismatch. Both sisters sued the city in state district court on January 3, 2024. The Rio Grande Sun reported the city settled the case in June 2025, paying $20,000 to each sister, part of eight settlements totaling more than $1.3 million.

In April 2021, Jason Burkleo was driving to his security job in Atherton, California, when the town’s automated license plate reader misread his dirt-obscured plate, reading the letters ‘H’ as ‘M’, and matched it to a reported stolen vehicle. Police treated the alert as a high-risk felony stop, ordered him at gunpoint to throw his keys out the window, get out and lie on his stomach, and handcuffed him. Burkleo sued the police department and the officers, alleging unreasonable seizure and excessive force. The case settled for $45,000. EFF lists the case among documented ALPR misreads that ended with guns drawn on innocent drivers.

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.