I smell a lawsuit!
Flock surveillance cameras have been under fire from freedom lovers, left and right, because people object to a private company spying on law abiding citizens on public roads, for some reason.
And this latest case of mistaken identity could have turned deadly.
Yes, someone cleared from suspicion in a murder case still had their vehicle flagged by Flock, leading officers to stop interstate traffic, pull the vehicle over, and draw guns on a woman all because police forgot to update their data with Flock.
Here's Fox 6 Milwaukee:
It happened at around 4:45 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6. Video from I-94 in Waukesha County shows multiple officers with guns drawn - and a passenger sticking their hands out the window.
Police pulled the car over after a Flock camera flagged it for a Milwaukee homicide. But when Brookfield Police called the Milwaukee Police Department, MPD said they no longer needed the car or the people inside, so officers let them go.
FOX6 News reached out to MPD to learn why that car was still active in the Flock system. The department said it was not a Flock issue, but a personnel issue - staff failed to remove a wanted vehicle alert from the system.
Flock defenders will point out that this appears to be a police error, of course, but Flock haters are still opposed to the system full stop.
This could have been tragic.
And this isn't the only time!
Amber Newell, the woman pulled over in this case, was pulled over last Monday as well, by officers with guns drawn, in Milwaukee because Flock flagged her car. Milwaukee PD failed to clear her in the Flock system after the first mistake, so she had to go through it all again a week later.
'I haven't been asleep since this has happened,' Newell said. 'Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is guns.' ...
'It was very embarrassing because after they put us in cuffs, they walked us to the car, I don't know what's going on, I'm scared, all you see is people in they cars recording,' Newell said.
It sounds like Flock and Milwaukee PD could be in her lawyer's sights.
Also, relevant to this case, Milwaukee police officers have recently gotten in trouble for misusing Flock cameras.
Recently, that controversy has only grown as more reports of misuse by law enforcement across the country arise - and Wisconsin.
Two members of the Milwaukee Police Department have faced separate criminal cases for illegally misusing the department's automated Flock Safety license plate reader system to stalk and track citizens for personal reasons.
Flock's days may be numbered.
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