Driver wins $76 after ALPR led to bogus traffic stop, drug searches

A federal jury in Texas recently ruled in favor of a man who sued Bexar County and its sheriff over allegations that the agency ran what the plaintiff’s attorneys called an “unconstitutional traffic stop scheme” enabled by “AI-powered” license plate readers. Late last month, plaintiff Alek Schott of Houston was awarded $76, one dollar for each minute that he was detained. (Schott asked for this exact amount as symbolic compensation.)

德克萨斯州的一个联邦陪审团最近做出裁决，支持一名起诉贝克萨尔县及其治安官的男子。该男子指控该机构实施了其律师所称的、由“人工智能驱动”的车牌识别系统支持的“违宪交通拦截计划”。上个月底，原告休斯顿居民阿列克·肖特（Alek Schott）获赔76美元，即他被拘留的每一分钟获赔一美元。（肖特要求赔偿这一确切金额作为象征性补偿。）

“After the stop, I filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office because I knew what happened to me was wrong,” Schott said in a statement after his win. “The department reviewed it, told me they didn’t see any violation, and said if I had a problem with it, I should sue them. So I did.”

“拦截发生后，我向治安官办公室提交了投诉，因为我知道发生在我身上的事情是错误的，”肖特在胜诉后的一份声明中说。“该部门进行了审查，告诉我他们没有发现任何违规行为，并表示如果我有异议，就应该起诉他们。所以我照做了。”

In his civil complaint, Schott outlined a wild tale. Schott had been driving his pickup truck home from a work trip to Carrizo Springs, in the southwestern part of the state, in March 2022. While in Bexar County, which covers the area around San Antonio, a police officer pulled Schott over for “lane drifting.” The father of two was questioned by deputy Joel Babb, who admitted later that the stated reason for the traffic stop was bogus.

在他的民事诉状中，肖特概述了一个离奇的故事。2022年3月，肖特在结束了前往该州西南部卡里佐斯普林斯的工作行程后，正驾驶皮卡车回家。当他经过覆盖圣安东尼奥周边地区的贝克萨尔县时，一名警察以“车道偏离”为由将肖特拦下。这位两个孩子的父亲随后受到了副警长乔尔·巴布（Joel Babb）的盘问，巴布后来承认，拦截交通的所谓理由是虚假的。

The real reason for the stop was that Babb had received a tip via a law enforcement WhatsApp group. It came from someone named “Kiki,” who allegedly worked with a federal fusion center in Laredo. Kiki apparently had near real-time access to automated license plate reader data. According to Babb’s deposition, Kiki told him that Schott’s truck had made a potentially suspicious “one-day turnaround.”

拦截的真正原因是巴布通过一个执法部门的WhatsApp群组收到了一条线索。线索来自一个名叫“Kiki”的人，据称此人在拉雷多的一家联邦情报融合中心工作。Kiki显然可以近乎实时地访问自动车牌识别系统的数据。根据巴布的证词，Kiki告诉他，肖特的卡车进行了一次可能存在可疑的“一日往返”。

To authorities, this was apparently enough to make one look like a smuggling suspect. After seeing the WhatsApp message, Babb waited for Schott’s vehicle and pulled it over once it passed his location. During the traffic stop, Babb said that he was on the “Criminal Interdiction Unit” looking for “human smuggling, drug smuggling, and all those things like that.”

对于当局来说，这显然足以让人看起来像个走私嫌疑人。在看到WhatsApp消息后，巴布等待肖特的车辆经过，并在其经过时将其拦下。在拦截过程中，巴布表示他隶属于“刑事拦截小组”，正在搜寻“人口走私、毒品走私以及所有类似的事情”。

According to the Institute for Justice, which helped Schott with his lawsuit, the entire stop was a travesty. “Footage from Alek’s own dashcam shows he never drifted lanes,” the group said. “Bodycam footage from the deputy shows Alek gave the officer calm, mundane answers about a run-of-the-mill work trip. Nothing about what he said was suspicious, but the deputy called a drug dog anyway. And moments before the dog alerted by jumping on the truck, the handler’s bodycam shows that he signaled the dog.”

协助肖特进行诉讼的司法研究所表示，整个拦截过程是一场闹剧。“阿列克的行车记录仪画面显示他从未偏离车道，”该组织称。“副警长的随身摄像机画面显示，阿列克对这次普通的工作行程给出了冷静、平淡的回答。他的话没有任何可疑之处，但副警长还是叫来了缉毒犬。而在警犬跳上卡车发出警报的前一刻，训犬员的随身摄像机显示他向警犬发出了信号。”

Schott was detained for 76 minutes while his truck was thoroughly searched. Cops found nothing, despite the drug dog’s alert. Schott eventually sued Bexar County. In late September, he won—the jury gave him the token $76 he requested. “Money was never what mattered,” his lawyers said. “This was and has always been about the Constitution. IJ will now ask the court to enjoin Bexar County from using baseless traffic stops as a tool for warrantless searches, and will work to enforce the precedent across the state.”

肖特被拘留了76分钟，期间他的卡车被彻底搜查。尽管警犬发出了警报，但警察一无所获。肖特最终起诉了贝克萨尔县。9月下旬，他胜诉了——陪审团判给他所要求的76美元象征性赔偿。“钱从来不是重点，”他的律师说。“这始终关乎宪法。司法研究所现在将要求法院禁止贝克萨尔县将毫无根据的交通拦截作为无证搜查的工具，并将努力在全州范围内执行这一先例。”

“This is what mass surveillance looks like when it reaches the shoulder of the highway,” Josh Windham, one of Schott’s attorneys, said in a statement. “An AI-powered camera flagged Alek’s plate. An anonymous law enforcement agent decided his completely ordinary trip looked suspicious. And a deputy went out and found a violation that never happened.”

“这就是大规模监控延伸到高速公路路肩时的样子，”肖特的律师之一乔什·温德姆（Josh Windham）在一份声明中说。“一个人工智能驱动的摄像头标记了阿列克的车牌。一名匿名的执法人员认定他完全普通的行程看起来很可疑。然后一名副警长出动，并发现了一个从未发生过的违规行为。”

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, which touts its use of Flock Safety cameras, declined Ars’ request for comment. Who watches the watchers? Longtime critics of license plate readers generally, and Flock in particular, told Ars that scrutiny of this technology is increasing.

贝克萨尔县治安官办公室吹捧其对Flock Safety摄像头的应用，但拒绝了Ars的置评请求。谁来监督监督者？长期以来对车牌识别系统（尤其是Flock）持批评态度的人士告诉Ars，对这项技术的审查正在加强。

“I think this case seems like a pretty quintessential example of what we’re seeing more and more as the public digs into ALPR surveillance: AI tech that vendors sell with pie-in-the-sky promises to improve public safety often face a tough reality check,” Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Center of Democracy and Technology’s Security and Surveillance Project, wrote in an email to Ars. “The truth is that ALPRs create serious dangers for Americans’ civil liberties, and if there aren’t sensible guardrails and checks on how these powerful tools are used, they also create serious risks to public safety with drivers being improperly pulled over or stalked by officers abusing the tech.”

“我认为这个案例似乎是一个非常典型的例子，反映了公众在深入了解自动车牌识别（ALPR）监控时越来越多地看到的情况：供应商以改善公共安全的空头支票兜售的人工智能技术，往往会面临严峻的现实考验，”民主与技术中心安全与监控项目副主任杰克·拉佩鲁克（Jake Laperruque）在给Ars的电子邮件中写道。“事实是，ALPR对美国人的公民自由构成了严重威胁，如果没有对这些强大工具的使用方式进行合理的护栏和检查，它们也会对公共安全造成严重风险，导致司机被不当拦截或被滥用该技术的警官跟踪。”