Will Penn and Robin Pen had just gotten home from a late-night food run when their quiet street filled with police cruisers. Lexington officers were hunting for a dark-colored Ram 2500 tied to a road-rage assault, and a Flock license plate reader search pointed them straight to Penn’s driveway — even though his truck’s plate didn’t match anything from the crime.
According to WKYT, officers were investigating a road rage incident in which the victim gave police the make, model and color of the suspect vehicle, details also reported by Fox 56. The assault reportedly involved a weapon resembling a club, per the seed reporting from Spectrum News 1. Penn does in fact drive a dark-colored Ram 2500, and that detail was enough for the Flock system to flag his truck as a possible match within the timeframe investigators were working.
One Match, No Matching Plate
Police said Penn’s truck was the only vehicle that matched the provided information within the specific timeframe they were investigating, the Fox 56 report notes. But according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, that single possible database match did not include a matching license plate. Officers reportedly showed the road-rage victim a photo of Penn’s truck pulled from the license plate reader system, and the victim said it looked like the vehicle involved in the assault, confident enough that detectives moved forward.
That confidence sent a show of force to the Penns’ home just before 4 a.m. on September 26. Accounts of exactly how large that response was differ: the Herald-Leader reported more than a dozen officers on the couple’s street, while the seed reporting from Spectrum News 1 described more than a dozen cruisers surrounding the home. Robin Pen answered the door first and was questioned about who lived in the home, whether they had traveled recently, and whether there were weapons inside, according to Spectrum News 1.
A Gun Drawn, Then an Apology
Doorbell footage captured at least one officer holding a gun at his side while another had a weapon drawn, though pointed at no one, per the Spectrum News 1 account. An officer can be heard telling the couple, “We are not looking for you,” according to Louisville Public Media. Officers reportedly recognized that the couple’s physical descriptions didn’t match the suspect, apologized for the inconvenience, and left shortly after.
“It was horrifying,” Robin Pen said, describing the police arrival, per the seed reporting. Lexington police later confirmed that further investigation determined Penn’s vehicle was not the suspect vehicle, and the same Louisville Public Media report states that no charges were filed in relation to it. As of that outlet’s September 30 report, the suspect in the underlying road-rage case still had not been located.
Couple Pushes for More Records
Will Penn and Robin Pen have requested body-camera footage from the night, which they believe could clarify what officers discussed before and after making contact with them, according to Spectrum News 1. The doorbell-camera footage the couple already has reportedly includes incomplete audio. Will Penn shared his account in the DeFlock America Facebook group, a post that was shared thousands of times, per the same report.
“This should not become normal,” Penn said, according to Spectrum News 1. The couple said they are skeptical of Flock cameras generally, and Robin Pen said she believes Lexington taxpayers should have had a vote before the cameras went up in neighborhoods. Robin Pen also questioned whether Lexington taxpayers should have voted on the cameras. The two say they hope the experience prompts additional accountability.
Police Defend the Technology Amid Scrutiny
Lexington Police Commander Daniel Burnett said there were few vehicles on the roadway after 3 a.m., which narrowed the search, according to Spectrum News 1. Burnett said automated license plate readers have benefited the department, helping solve crimes that otherwise would have lacked leads, and said the department remains committed to the city’s ongoing Flock review process. Department policy reportedly requires officers using the readers to be properly trained and warns that a system alert may reference a vehicle rather than confirm who is driving it.
Lexington has 125 Flock cameras citywide, according to Louisville Public Media, a rollout that began in spring 2022 with a one-year pilot of 25 cameras, per the Herald-Leader. Mayor Linda Gorton announced on September 4 that she would organize an independent panel to review the city’s contract with Flock, before the September 26 incident; details of that panel have not yet been released. Louisville Public Media also reported figures from a WKYT investigation indicating 96% of searches tied to Lexington’s Flock system came from out-of-state or federal agencies, with just 63,000 of 7 million total searches made by Lexington police.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Errors
Lexington’s city government maintains that its license plate readers have no video or facial-recognition capability, cannot be remotely adjusted, and cannot be used for traffic enforcement or to identify who is inside a vehicle, according to a statement posted on the City of Lexington’s website. The city also says audits of license-plate-reader search activity are completed at least once each quarter, per Lexington’s government page on the subject.
The Lexington case fits a broader pattern documented nationally. CBS News has verified more than a dozen instances where automated license plate reader systems were involved in wrongful stops, according to its reporting, noting that errors often stem from a mix of machine mistakes — like misread characters or glare — and human or administrative error. In 2024, Aurora, Colorado, agreed to a $1.9 million settlement after police mistakenly flagged a family’s plate as matching a stolen motorcycle from Montana, per the same CBS News report. Flock cameras have faced nationwide and Kentucky-specific scrutiny, with privacy concerns leading to the formation of multiple DeFlock groups and, in some cases, the destruction of cameras, according to Spectrum News 1.
