 A hit-and-run driver fled the scene of a chain-reaction crash that killed three people in DeBary, Florida, north of Orlando, in October 2025. All the police had to go on was a tip from a witness who told them that the fleeing driver had been in a Dodge Durango. So the police went to work, scouring hours of surveillance footage recorded by Flock Safety cameras. They found that a Dodge Durango had been three miles away from the scene of the fatal crash. Even more incriminating, it was moving in the direction of the accident. On this basis, they arrested the owner of the car, 23-year-old Lindsey Brooke Isaacs. Authorities slapped her with eight felony charges, including three counts of vehicular homicide. As Joe Wilkins at Futurism put it, Isaacs was “treated like a hardened criminal.” She spent almost two weeks in jail, the first few days in solitary confinement, contemplating the possibility that she might be sent to prison for the rest of her life. At the heart of this case was Flock’s automated license plate readers (ALPRs). That technology demonstrated the power of ALPRs to match cars with crimes. What it also demonstrated is that there is no technological solution to stupid. Had the police bothered to examine Isaacs’ Dodge Durango, they would have found that it didn’t have a scratch on it. How can you hit another car and kill three people without leaving a scratch on your own vehicle? A later investigation revealed maroon-colored paint left behind by the fleeing vehicle. Isaacs’ car was black. As evidence of Isaacs’ innocence piled up, prosecutors released her on the 13th day of her incarceration. “This took and is going to take maybe years to get better mentally, physically, emotionally,” Isaacs said. We can only imagine. Being held in jail separates an accused person from their job and family. It is a taxing ordeal that should not be imposed carelessly. This story illustrates how police can become overly dependent on technology – whether facial recognition or ALPRs – leaping to conclusions of guilt without taking the time to perform a few easy checks. Flock enables pervasive and unconstitutional surveillance that is fundamentally changing how law enforcement operates. As this case demonstrates, reliance on technology can encourage shoddy police work, with devastating consequences for innocent Americans. Legislators must recognize that Flock is a major driver of the self-assembling surveillance state – and enact guardrails to keep it within constitutional boundaries. Comments are closed.
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