I would argue it was both. No doubt this company was marketing it in a way to make it seem very reliable. And all of the procedural things afterwards made the error so much more damaging.

But imo this is why local police departments should not have access to this kind of tool. It is too powerful, and the statistical interpretation is too complicated for random North Dakota cops to use responsibly. Neither the company nor the PD have an incentive to be careful.

> https://archive.is/yCaVV

When I load this URL I get "One more step Please complete the security check to access" and I cannot get past the archive.is computational paywall.

But the guardian article actually has text! Thanks.