Incidents gathered from public reporting around the world. Each one links to the articles it came from. None of it is a finding that anyone broke the law.
Reports people file about their own experience are not shown here and never will be without their agreement. Tell us what happened to you.
68 incidents closest to “Accurint for Law Enforcement” · matched on meaning · public reporting
Flock Safety camera misread a license plate character, triggering a stolen vehicle alert that led Toledo police to conduct a felony traffic stop without verification, during which an innocent driver was bitten by a police dog, injured, and wrongfully arrested.
1 source article · read the reporting →
The Flock camera system tracked the ex-girlfriend's vehicle license plate over 1,000 times, enabling the officer to stalk and harass her.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Automated license plate readers tracked the locations of individuals, enabling deputies to stalk them without their knowledge.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Two women from Maine allege that Department of Homeland Security agents used AI-powered surveillance tools to identify them as they recorded federal immigration enforcement operations. The agents threatened to add them to a secret database of domestic terrorists, according to a lawsuit. DHS denies the existence of such a database but says it monitors threats. The lawsuit claims retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Brian Hofer, a privacy advocate, and his brother were detained at gunpoint by Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies after a Vigilant Solutions automated license plate reader mistakenly flagged their rental car as stolen. The error occurred because the car had been recovered but not removed from the hot list database. Hofer filed a federal lawsuit alleging civil rights violations, while the sheriff's office stated deputies followed procedure. The incident highlights concerns about the accuracy and oversight of license plate reader systems.
2 source articles · read the reporting →
The RCMP in British Columbia secretly subscribed to IntelCenter's facial recognition service, which matched faces against a database of 700,000 faces tied to terrorism. Internal emails revealed the force broke its own procurement rules and hid the purchase. The RCMP claimed it was only for testing, but documents showed active use. The contracts ended in 2019.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
The ACLU conducted a test of Amazon's Rekognition facial recognition system, comparing photos of members of Congress against a database of 25,000 mugshots. The system incorrectly matched 28 legislators, disproportionately people of colour, including six members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The test highlights the risk of false matches and biased inaccuracies in law enforcement use of face surveillance. The ACLU calls for a moratorium on police use of the technology.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Jail and prison officials in at least three states deployed Verus, a software by LEO Technologies, to scan inmate phone calls for keywords related to COVID-19. The system transcribes and analyzes calls, flagging mentions of symptoms or the virus. Advocacy groups argue the surveillance is an abuse of privacy and could lead to retaliation against inmates raising concerns about conditions. The software is funded by Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy and has been deployed in Georgia, Alabama, and California.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
The UK Court of Appeal ruled that South Wales Police's use of Automated Facial Recognition (AFR) technology, known as AFR Locate, was unlawful and violated human rights. The court found that the legal framework gave officers too much discretion over watchlists and deployment, and the data protection impact assessment was inadequate. Civil liberties campaigner Ed Bridges brought the judicial review, alleging the technology was unlawfully intrusive. The court upheld the appeal on grounds of legality, data protection, and equality duties, and South Wales Police stated it would not appeal the decision.
8 source articles · read the reporting →
A Georgetown Law report documents that law enforcement face recognition networks include over 117 million American adults, with at least 26 states allowing searches against driver's license and ID photo databases. The report alleges that these systems are largely unregulated, lack accuracy testing, disproportionately affect African Americans, and are not audited for misuse. It calls for legislative regulation and public reporting.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Durham Constabulary developed the Harm Assessment Risk Tool (HART), a machine learning algorithm that assesses the recidivism risk of offenders. The tool uses 34 data categories including criminal history, age, gender and two types of postcode, one sourced from Experian's Mosaic marketing segmentation system. Big Brother Watch alleges that using such commercial consumer behaviour data to inform custody decisions risks prejudice and disproportionate targeting of deprived neighbourhoods. The force has stated it is refreshing the model with an aim to remove one of the postcode predictors.
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Amazon developed Rekognition, a facial recognition system, and is marketing it to law enforcement agencies. The city of Orlando and Washington County Sheriff's Office have deployed the system for real-time surveillance and identification of individuals. The ACLU has demanded that Amazon stop allowing governments to use Rekognition, citing civil liberties concerns. Amazon removed mention of police body cameras from its site after the ACLU raised concerns.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Google has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese cybercrime group called Outsider Enterprise, alleging it used Google's Gemini AI to create hundreds of fake websites impersonating companies and government services. The group allegedly sent millions of phishing messages to Android users, defrauding hundreds of thousands of Americans of millions of dollars. Google is coordinating with the FBI and wireless carriers to dismantle the network. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks an injunction to take down the operation.
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Kimberlee Williams, a grandmother living in Oklahoma, was arrested in June 2021 on Maryland warrants for bank fraud she did not commit. Police had relied on a false match from facial recognition technology and concealed this from the court when applying for the arrest warrant. She spent six months in jail before the charges were dropped. The ACLU has sent letters to the police departments seeking accountability and policy changes.
1 source article · read the reporting →
The ACLU of Massachusetts conducted a test using Amazon's Rekognition facial recognition technology, comparing headshots of 188 New England professional athletes to a database of 20,000 arrest photos. The software falsely matched 27 athletes, including Patriots safety Duron Harmon. The ACLU is calling for a moratorium on government use of face surveillance technology.
8 source articles · read the reporting →
The U.S. Border Patrol has built a nationwide dragnet driver-surveillance system using automated license plate readers and AI to flag suspicious travel patterns. Local police then pull over targeted drivers on pretexts, interrogate them, and seize cash and vehicles through civil asset forfeiture. The program has been kept secret, with details hidden from court documents and the public. The ACLU report highlights the abuse of innocent drivers and calls for congressional action.
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Unauthorized access to license plate data of ex-girlfriend and four other individuals
1 source article · read the reporting →
Sweden's data protection authority IMY fined the Swedish Police Authority €250,000 for unlawfully using Clearview AI's facial-recognition app. The police used the app between autumn 2019 and March 2020 without authorisation or a required data protection impact assessment. The IMY ordered the police to ensure Clearview AI deletes the data and to train employees to avoid future breaches.
3 source articles · read the reporting →
A judge ruled that a police search using Flock's automated license plate readers constituted a form of mass surveillance. The ruling concerns the deployment of the AI-based camera system by law enforcement, which the court found to be an invasive surveillance practice. No further details of the case were provided in the article.
4 source articles · read the reporting →
The United States Postal Service's law enforcement wing, the Postal Inspection Service, ran a secret surveillance program called the Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) that used facial recognition from Clearview AI and social media monitoring tools to infiltrate online communities and monitor protests. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sued the USPS for failing to conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment as required by the E-Government Act. A federal district court dismissed the lawsuit on standing grounds, ruling that EPIC did not suffer a cognizable injury from the agency's refusal to disclose information about the program.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
In summer 2025, a human rights lawyer from Pakistan's Balochistan province was targeted via WhatsApp with Intellexa's Predator spyware, according to Amnesty International's Security Lab. The attack is part of a broader pattern of unlawful surveillance of activists, journalists and human rights defenders. The Intellexa Leaks investigation exposed internal operations of the spyware company, raising concerns about human rights due diligence.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
The Los Angeles Police Department directed officers to record the social media accounts of every civilian they interviewed, including those not arrested or accused of a crime, according to records obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice. The field interview cards, which also ask for social security numbers, have raised civil liberties concerns. Prosecutors have accused three officers of using the cards to falsely label civilians as gang members. The LAPD said the policy was being updated but did not respond to questions about its use of social media monitoring tools including Media Sonar and Geofeedia.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against IntelliVision Technologies Corp. for making false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims about its AI-powered facial recognition software. The company allegedly claimed its software had one of the highest accuracy rates on the market and was free of gender or racial bias, without supporting evidence. The FTC also alleged that IntelliVision did not train its software on millions of faces as claimed, but on images of approximately 100,000 individuals. Under a proposed consent order, IntelliVision is prohibited from making such misrepresentations without competent and reliable testing.
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Christopher Gatlin was arrested and jailed for an assault on a security guard after police used facial recognition software to identify him from a blurry surveillance image. The lead detective built a case against Gatlin despite the city's policy that AI results are nonscientific and should not be the sole basis for a decision. A witness was steered by officers to select Gatlin from a photo lineup, and the case was later dismissed after more than two years. Gatlin alleges wrongful arrest and has filed a lawsuit.
4 source articles · read the reporting →
