A Wisconsin woman was pulled over at gunpoint twice in one week after Milwaukee Police Department staff failed to remove a vehicle alert from the Flock license plate camera system.
Fox 6 Milwaukee reports that on Thursday, police in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, Wisconsin, conducted a high-risk traffic stop on Interstate 94 after a Flock camera flagged a vehicle in connection with a Milwaukee homicide investigation. Video footage from the incident shows multiple officers with weapons drawn and a passenger extending their hands out the car window in compliance with police commands.
The vehicle’s driver, Amber Newell, and her passengers were detained during the stop. However, when Brookfield Police contacted the Milwaukee Police Department to coordinate the arrest, MPD informed them they no longer needed the vehicle or its occupants. The officers immediately released Newell and the other individuals.
According to the Milwaukee Police Department, the incident resulted from a personnel error rather than a technological malfunction. MPD staff had failed to remove the wanted vehicle alert from the Flock system after the investigation no longer required monitoring that particular car. Brookfield Police Chief Christopher Garcia stated that his officers’ actions were consistent with the information available to them at the time of the stop.
In an interview with FOX6 News, Newell described the emotional impact of the experience. “I haven’t been asleep since this has happened,” Newell said. “Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is guns.” Newell recounted the terrifying moments when police surrounded her vehicle. “My momma is like my go-to person, I wanted to call her so bad yesterday, but I’m like, if I make a sudden move, it’s gonna be over, it’s going to end my life,” Newell said.
What makes the situation even more disturbing for Newell is that this was not an isolated incident. She reported that Milwaukee police conducted a similar stop on Monday, also with guns drawn. According to Newell, officers provided no explanation, towed her vehicle, and released her without charges.
“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.
Milwaukee police declined to provide an interview regarding the incident. The department emphasized the error was related to data entry procedures rather than the Flock camera technology itself, but has not publicly addressed how similar mistakes might be prevented in the future.
Breitbart News previously reported that at least 50 law enforcement officers are accused of misusing Flock cameras to stalk ex-girlfriends and other victims:
Marci Bakely, a 50-year-old single mother in Jefferson, Georgia, was one of them. Her ex-boyfriend, Michael Steffman, police chief in nearby Braselton, allegedly tracked her using the Flock license plate reader system. According to audit logs compiled by “Have I Been Flocked,” which aggregates police search records, Steffman searched Bakely’s plate and her teenage daughter’s about 600 times.
The surveillance began while they were dating and continued after the breakup. Bakely installed security cameras and had mechanics check her car for tracking devices, unable to work out how Steffman always knew where she was. When she confronted him, he admitted in a text message that he was using Flock cameras to monitor her.
Read more at Fox 6 Milwaukee here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.