Sheriff's Deputies Thought They'd Stopped a Criminal. But License Plate Cameras Led Them to the Wrong Person

A 65-year-old Oakland nurse was pulled over at gunpoint by Alameda County Sheriff's deputies after a Flock camera flagged her plates as connected to a crime. Thieves had swapped her plates in a tactic called 'cold-plating' to evade ALPR surveillance, highlighting a critical vulnerability where criminals swap plates to avoid detection while creating dangerous encounters for innocent vehicle owners.