Oakland privacy advocate sues sheriff after license plate readers target his car stolen

Brian Hofer, chair of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission, sued the Contra Costa County Sheriff after he said he was detained at gunpoint on Nov. 25, 2018 when license plate readers mistakenly put his rental car on a stolen hot list. The exact numbers of mistakes like the one that happened in Hofer’s case aren’t known. That’s because a 2 Investigates Public Records Request to police agencies reveal that these departments do not conduct these type of audits. Brooks Jarosz reports