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Police are using AI to pull over drivers for 'suspicious' behavior

326 points • by gumby • today at 4:40 PM • 254 comments • view on HN

Comments

JumpCrisscross • today at 6:09 PM

"'I just had to be sure because I’m not a regular cop, I’m part of the FBI, and when I scanned your plate I could see you had suspicious travel patterns,' I think is how he worded it" [1].

This isn't traffic cops, it's federal police. And it isn't suspicious driving patterns, e.g. weaving, it's full-on movement tracking.

[1] https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/ai-driven-polic...

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techteach00 • today at 7:14 PM

It's a completely lost cause. For example, when you agree to Mazdas TOS for the connected services app, you give them permission to sell your driving data to 3rd parties including law enforcement and insurance companies.

I said no so I'm not allowed to have remote start. I'm a bad cog. Punish me.

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pRusya • today at 10:29 PM

I've noticed this myself. Not being pulled over, but being followed.

When I just came to the US, I got my car and started exploring Utah a lot. Just picking a random spot on a map and going there. Beautiful countryside.

There were several occasions when a police vehicle showed up right after I parked, made a circle around me and disappeared.

One time their cruiser parked 30 feet away and they were watching me. I had a slice of pizza with me, so I rolled down a window and let them watch me eating. They drove away after a few minutes.

Also, driving 60 miles one way to a lake for a swim once or twice a week is suspicious, apparently. And I was doing it even when the water was in 40s. One time K9 parked right next to me. Idk if they searched my car or not, but their drone followed me on a trail back and forth for over 5 minutes. And when I came back, they were packing up and leaving.

Never saw them during moonless nights when I was stargazing in the middle of nowhere or sleeping in my car on the side of a road. Fun times.

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andix • today at 5:49 PM

Can AI also fully legalize racial profiling?

Some criminal behaviors are somewhat correlated with skin color, age or gender. It would be extremely hard to train an AI to ignore those correlations. But would it even matter? Nobody knows why the AI flagged suspicious behavior, it usually can't tell even if you are able to ask follow up questions. So nobody could prove racial profiling.

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pton_xd • today at 6:48 PM

Eventually your car will autonomously pull over to the side of the road, lock the doors, and instruct you to wait patiently for the arriving officer. Please return your hands to the steering wheel.

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gcanyon • today at 10:07 PM

On the one hand, freedoms!

Technology like this is stuck in a no win situation.

Human police officers are allowed to take action based on reasonable suspicion.

AI, if it is worse than humans, will be criticized for false positives.

And if it is better than humans, without being able to explain why it will be criticized for that as well even if it is in general better than humans, it will be criticized for the false positives.

But as the saying goes, this is the worst it will ever be. At some point this thing or something like it will have a precision over 95%. At what point will the debate become awkward because the thing is superhumanly efficient at sorting out the baddies?

comrade1234 • today at 6:48 PM

"...she was pulled over by an officer who claimed she had spent too much time driving in the left lane."

Throw the book at her!

bryanrasmussen • today at 4:48 PM

why was this FBI guy so forthcoming with this lady about his agency's arguably civil rights abuses? I mean I guess it's good he was but on the other hand it seems a bit weird, given my experience with feds.

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whycome • today at 6:07 PM

Using transit or roads outside of normal commuting hours?? How suspicious. Driving somewhere without a destination? Suspicious.

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user00005 • today at 7:18 PM

If you watch any amount of police bodycam footage on YT having to do with trafficking you will see ALPRs are now another tool they use.

The given reason for being pulled over is something petty like following too close or not signaling at the right time. The real reason is the vehicle was flagged from some pattern determined by the ALPR networks.

I've had my car searched (I finally gave consent to search after over an hour of being detained waiting on a drug dog) because of a popular 'reasonably suspicious' pattern cops use. The loser let me off with a warning for speeding after finding nothing.

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causal • today at 5:35 PM

I'm used to AI agents doing what I tell them to do. Gonna be rough the first time I realize one has direct authority over me...

SR2Z • today at 8:15 PM

We need hard math for statistical construction of probable cause.

Probably a public model, which is independently vetted against actual detentions, needs to show a 99% probability of an actual crime being committed for police to make a stop like this.

The opportunities for abuse are simply too high.

ev0lv • today at 8:15 PM

Can't wait for AI to make it possible to reverse engineer automotive firmware and just bypass all the spyware like we can with Debloat Samsung TVs

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gregwebs • today at 6:11 PM

Ironically the best defense against police abuse of power seems to be doing your own surveillance. Recording interactions with the police and having a dash cam. Many popular dash cams like Viofo record to an SD and don't send recordings to the cloud.

amelius • today at 5:20 PM

How much better is the "intelligence" of police officers compared to artificial intelligence?

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dvdyzag • today at 5:54 PM

Is suspicious a felony or a misdemeanor, officer?

maerF0x0 • today at 6:48 PM

Just turn up the temperature when it's time for police raises or retirements

mattlondon • today at 6:24 PM

And people say the UK is a surveillance state! This is chilling.

exabrial • today at 7:15 PM

Don't worry, thanks to the Democrats, then affirmed by the Republicans, your car will soon dial them directly!

Dig1t • today at 5:04 PM

"Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on"

-Larry Ellison

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joshbuddy • today at 5:55 PM

So, we're just speed running Little Brother now?

krunck • today at 6:06 PM

Lets not forget that all your personal movements are also recorded by your cell location. The US government has access to all this through various "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" agreements with the corporate data holders.

One must assume that the various "fusion centers" are pulling in all this data and connecting all the dots. Unless you are walking, with a face mask, and without your cell phone you have to assume they know were you are.

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bentt • today at 6:03 PM

At this point just have the car tell the cops when the driver is misbehaving. And get the taxpayers to fund it!

siva7 • today at 6:01 PM

alright, so finally a "thought crime" becomes reality. i feel the world leaders need to stop turning their eyes blind to ai but unfortunately they are too detached from tech to get what change is happening around the world.

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kazinator • today at 6:18 PM

Persistent driving in the left lane basically just confirms American birth.

taurath • today at 5:32 PM

We used to call those dragnets which are illegal under the 4th amendment, but the constitution only tends to apply to those with the ability to hire attorneys nowadays.

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gxs • today at 5:52 PM

The Bay Area are the biggest hypocrites in the planet

They know how to present themselves in a way that not only they appear liberal, but appear liberal under scrutiny

They are rolling out versions of this but doing it in poor neighborhoods of course - heaven forbid they roll anything like this out in the Berkeley hills

Obviously im over generalizing for dramatic effect, but if this stuff can get passed in the Bay Area, I hold little hope we will successfully challenge it elsewhere

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BatFastard • today at 5:57 PM

I strangely have mixed feelings on this. Half of me says "Illegal search and seizure", the other half say "We need to get the crazy drivers off the road"

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reactordev • today at 6:29 PM

So, pre-crime... which is illegal.

autoventure • today at 6:23 PM

So scary.. now even taking a road trip can make you look suspicious?

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j3th9n • today at 6:07 PM

Let’s all commit suspicious driving patterns and overload the system.

kazinator • today at 6:12 PM

Actual human traffickers and whoever not are onto this, and take steps to evade cameras. Even if they aren't this is a very poor strategy. If you have a suspicion about someone, the stupidest thing you can do is pull them over. That risks blowing the whole investigation. That particular vehicle and driver may have nothing incriminating on them, and will now tip off their entire network.

bluegatty • today at 6:37 PM

this has to go to the supreme court right away

deaton • today at 6:58 PM

This seems like a great excuse to pull over minorities. In general pulling people over for vague "suspicious behavior" without suspicion of a specific issue is a massive violation of everyone's rights.

bluecalm • today at 6:29 PM

I prefer AI doing that over police using their judgement. AI is better and will get better. Reckless driving is a huge problem. Imo it's an emergency situation so I am willing to accept about any measures that leads to getting crazies/speeders/phone watching idiots off the roads. Bring SkyNet if you have to. Solving this is the highest priority.

cyanydeez • today at 6:08 PM

lets be fair, police are using ______ to pull over drivers fo suspicious behavior is just a headline you get when you have a functional journalism any time in the 20th and 21st century.

andix • today at 5:44 PM

"Land of the Free", lol

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sehw • today at 5:26 PM

[dead]

jon128 • today at 5:21 PM

Reasonable suspicion, where the "reasonable" part is absurdly subjective here, is not probable cause.

These detentions, even for the majority who have documented in writing a full assent to adhere to vehicle codes under public policy, are not legal.

Those who aren't well-educated in law can stop reading here.

A custodial arrest of someone who went to sufficent lengths to opt for not assenting in writing to adhere to vehicle codes, based on reasonable suspicion, would be unlawful, and in addition to the involved false declaration of an emergency on the road (which is a felony) would ipso facto be criminal in nature.

Documentation of dishonor has value in the public space. Blockchains for the win.