Police swarm innocent man after AI cameras incorrectly mark his car as stolen

An innocent driver was surrounded by armed police after AI-powered surveillance cameras incorrectly linked his Range Rover to a stolen license plate report.

Automotive journalist Joel Feder was testing a $155,000 Range Rover in Minnesota when four police vehicles boxed him and his wife into a Kohl’s parking lot in late June.

Officers emerged with their hands near their guns and ordered Feder out of the SUV.

“Are you armed?!” one officer shouted. “Get out of the car!”

Feder complied and was searched as officers questioned him about who owned the vehicle. Police eventually revealed that Flock Safety license plate cameras had been tracking him around Plymouth for several days after repeatedly flagging the Range Rover.

Officers had reportedly been waiting for an opportunity to stop the vehicle and moved in after a camera detected it entering the parking lot. A police drone was also flying overhead during the operation.

AI cameras mark man’s car as stolen

The Range Rover carried a New Jersey manufacturer plate reading 34 10 DTM, with the number 10 printed smaller than the other characters.

A Jaguar Land Rover dealership in Los Angeles had reported a different plate, 34 03 DTM, as missing. However, the police report recorded it only as 34 DTM.

Flock’s cameras then failed to register the smaller middle numbers and repeatedly read Feder’s plate as 34 DTM, creating a match.

Police were able to confirm Feder’s vehicle was legitimate after contacting Jaguar Land Rover. They also discovered that the supposedly stolen plate had actually been misplaced during a photo shoot.

Screengrab/NBC

Four other vehicles with similarly formatted Jaguar Land Rover plates were reportedly being tracked in Minnesota that week.

Feder was eventually released after around an hour but was warned to drive directly home because cameras in another jurisdiction could flag him again.

“You’re lucky we’re in Plymouth,” an officer told him. “If you were in Minneapolis, they definitely would’ve come at you with guns drawn.”

The incident follows several other high-profile AI errors. In 2025, armed police detained a Baltimore student after an AI system mistook a bag of Doritos for a gun.

Another man was arrested after casino facial recognition software falsely declared him a banned customer, while a Tennessee grandmother spent nearly six months behind bars after being incorrectly linked to a crime committed more than 1,000 miles away.