The city of Aurora may want to get its checkbook ready after a lawsuit was filed by innocent motorists detained for two hours at an intersection in 2012 while police searched for a bank robber.

By detained, we don’t mean inconveniently stopped. We mean people being forced at gunpoint from their cars, handcuffed and made to sit on a curb while officers rooted through their vehicles.

The suit filed last week on behalf of 14 plaintiffs alleges Aurora police violated the motorists’ Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure and excessive force.

Clearly, they did.

Police were searching for a signal from a GPS unit secretly placed with the stolen money by a teller at the bank that was robbed. Yet, the agency lacked proper equipment to pinpoint the exact location of the GPS signal.

Instead, they surrounded 19 vehicles at the intersection where the signal had been detected and treated everyone like a suspect.

The actual suspect had been described as a white male about 130 pounds and 5-foot-6. So why were women and children and others who didn’t fit the description forced from their cars, where they were frisked and handcuffed?

Police went car to car searching for evidence while waiting for the FBI to bring a more sophisticated tracking device. But the agent didn’t know how to use the device and people had to continue to wait for someone who did — even after police had found the suspect.

We understand at times innocent people’s rights can be infringed upon in an emergency. But this is a case where rights were trampled because of police overreach and inadequate technology. If the police department wants to go high-tech, it needs to go all the way with the right equipment, or not go at all.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates has called plaintiffs to apologize. While that is commendable, it doesn’t change the fact that his department screwed up and his city may be on the hook for it.