Milwaukee has become part of a mass surveillance apparatus. Surveillance technology is dangerous, and few know that these are counterinsurgency tactics being practiced on residents by our own police department.
Integrated surveillance technology tactics, like drones, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), video cameras, “Stingray” international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) catchers, and social media trackers, were developed during colonial endeavors and on battlefields like Vietnam, Colombia and the Middle East to pacify local populations.
These types of surveillance technologies made their way back for use against the domestic populace in the United States.
The dangers of Flock cameras
It’s unfortunate that the police have resorted to counterinsurgency tactics to surveil Milwaukee residents, but one is uniquely dangerous: automated license plate reading technology, more popularly known as Flock cameras.
Flock technology can establish a “pattern of life” for Milwaukee residents, especially when combined with other surveillance technologies, without a warrant or probable cause.
A “pattern of life” is the recurring patterns, behaviors and cycles that make up your average day-to-day activities. Establishing a pattern of life involves law enforcement collecting surveillance data and combining it to build a detailed picture of a person’s habits, routines, relationships and behavior. This includes where a person sleeps, when they leave, where they work, where they regularly meet, what vehicle they drive, which routes they take and much more.
Flock cameras and other automatic license plate recognition tools also record other information, such as make, model, color, body style, temporary tags, damage and stickers. They call it the “vehicle footprint” and use it when there is no license plate or the license plate is unreadable. These cameras actually record everything in a wide angle, but allegedly the interface that the local police can see only displays what I’ve mentioned.
The companies that make them, and theoretically anyone who accesses the recording, can see everything captured in the videos. That means faces, cellphones, clothes, actions – everything.
The Milwaukee Police Department combines this with open-source intelligence like Babel Street, which analyzes publicly available information, such as social media data. This means they can also begin to build out a psychological profile, ideology, interests and a network of associates.
Over-policing the community
The Milwaukee Police Department made more arrests for reckless driving in 2025 compared to 2024. (Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service file photo)
Although the MPD has acquired this technology under the pretext of solving crime, it indiscriminately monitors all Milwaukee residents’ whereabouts and online activities, and that does not make Milwaukee safer. Instead, it reinforces over-policing, and these technologies tend to be concentrated in Black and Latino communities.
Studies show that over-policing produces more crime because it deteriorates community-police relations, causing communities to abide by what sociologists call the “code of the street,” which causes retaliatory violence.
Researchers have clearly illustrated that most crime is a result of unmet needs, so if we intend to make Milwaukee safe, policing and surveilling the populace will not create a safe community. If people still have to survive harsh circumstances, the government can place all the surveillance technology and police they desire; people will still find ways to survive when faced with intense, concentrated poverty, hyper-segregation, economic exclusion and structural racism.
Furthermore, the current federal landscape has set a dangerous precedent for how it accesses and exploits the surveillance data collected by local police and sheriff’s departments. We must oppose and ban Flock automated license plate readers and any other technology that undermines civil liberties and privacy. The abuse of these technologies causes more problems for Milwaukee residents. We need to remove them to protect our privacy and democracy.
Nickolas X Dohertyis the Confronting Mass Incarceration coordinator at the Milwaukee Turners.
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service invites community members to submit opinion pieces of 500-800 words on topics of interest to central city Milwaukee. To send a submission for consideration, please email info@milwaukeenns.org. The views expressed are solely those of the authors.
Religious leaders in Milwaukee protest ICE arrests in the city (Photo courtesy Michael Pointer Mace)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has made its position clear. Theagency refuses to require its agents to follow Milwaukee’s law banning masks. Since it is unable to come to this common sense conclusion itself, the remedy is for Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke to sue. This is how we keep secret police at bay.
Goyke has taken the first step. In aJuly 17 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, he defends the ICE out MKE ordinance, stating that masked law enforcement “increases the risk of dangerous interactions with the public, undermines accountability and police community relations, and stokes confusions, fear, and intimidation.”
Milwaukee prohibits ICE agents from wearing masks. The Department of Homeland Security staunchly refuses to follow this sensible rule despite a Milwaukee Police Department standard operating procedure that models this basement level of transparency. We need to know what ICE is doing. We need to know who you are. We need to see your faces.
DHS claims that it won’t follow Milwaukee’s ordinance because of theSupremacy Clause. Their claim asserts that municipalities cannot create rules that prevent employees from performing federal duties and, in most cases, the Supremacy Clause makes sense.
We wouldn’t want a city ordinance to keep the U.S. Census Bureau from collecting population data. We wouldn’t want municipalities to prevent the National Weather Service from studying tornados. At the same time, identifiable and transparent federal law enforcement is not at odds with the rule of law.
Clarity and accountability is at the heart of our Fifth Amendment’s promise of due process. The Supremacy Clause does not supersede our Constitution’s protections. The clause itself is a component of our Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) and no article or clause may violate the Bill of Rights.
The Mask-Free MKE ordinance took time to create. Over and over again, our church membersreturned to the Common Council’s galley seats as the rule was amended, re-written and reviewed by our city attorney, Evan Goyke. Goyke’s job is to make sure that the proposed ordinance is constitutional and enforceable.Goyke’s verdict is that the people of Milwaukee can prohibit masked law enforcement.
Consider the current situation ofGiovanni Sosa, a 20-year old with no criminal record. Gio came to the United States when he was 4 years old. Recently, he was snatched by masked ICE agents, leaving his wife Litzy without her husband and his 2 year old daughter without her father.
Gio has worked construction jobs since he was 14 and has never run afoul of law enforcement. Last week, while heading to the barber, his car was surrounded and blocked. His window was smashed and he was handcuffed and dragged to detention. As he was shoved into a government car, Gio had the presence of mind to yell out his mother’s phone number. Had he not done so, he simply would not have returned home from the errands he was running. Who took him? Where was he? Was his detention legal? Was the use of force necessary?
Our Constitution protects us from having to ask these questions. The Fifth Amendment states that “no person” shall be deprived of life or liberty without protections against arbitrary government actions. Surely, masks cross this line.
DHS claims that it must allow its employees to wear masks for their safety. Lauren Bis, a DHS spokesperson, states,“Sanctuary politicians attempting to ban our federal law enforcement from wearing masks is … a flagrant attempt to endanger our officers.”
The Trump administration’s immigration enforcers fear that without masks, their employees’ actions would instigate such a strong public outcry that they would be forced to hold officers accountable. They don’t want the public to identify officers responsible for using excessive force. How can DHS officials be opposed to basic transparency before the public it serves?
This is where City Attorney Evan Goyke can help. DHS has convinced itself that the Supremacy Clause supersedes the Constitution. Its insistence that secrecy and obfuscation is a means to serve the people is a slippery rationalization that leads to a secret police force. City Attorney Goyke should sue ICE and require the agency to comply with the law. It is for the good of the residents of Milwaukee, for ICE’s own agents, for MPD officers and for our democratic heritage. This moment of trial will turn our commitment to defend our rights into steel. Our’s is a nation without a secret police. Masks cross a line. At this pivotal hour, Milwaukee must lead.
Pennsylvania State Police are investigating two separate incidents involving the theft or attempted theft of catalytic converters from school transportation vehicles in Franklin County, with charges pending against one suspect in one of the cases, reported Tri-State News.
Police said via the article that Shawn Jordan, 38, of Hagerstown, Maryland, is expected to face charges after investigators identified him as one of the suspects in an attempted catalytic converter theft at the Chambersburg Area School District transportation facility on Cider Press Road in Guilford Township.
According to the news report, the incident occurred at approximately 12:30 p.m. June 9. Investigators allege Jordan attempted to steal catalytic converters from a white 2025 Ford van and a white 2018 Ford van owned by the school district. The transportation hub is located near Falling Spring Elementary School.
State police reportedly said charges will be filed through Magisterial District Judge 39-3-07. Court records had not yet reflected formal charges as of the latest update. The investigation is being conducted under the Pennsylvania State Police Department.
In a separate case, PSP is reportedly investigating the theft of catalytic converters from two vehicles owned by DL Friese Transportation in Hamilton Township. Troopers were notified shortly before 7 a.m. May 11 that catalytic converters had been stolen from a school bus and a box truck parked at the company’s lot on Lincoln Way West near Chambersburg. The theft resulted in an estimated loss of about $1,600.
No arrests have been made in that case, which remains under investigation. State police are asking anyone with information about the theft to contact the PSP Chambersburg station.
Catalytic converter thefts have become a recurring concern for vehicle owners. School districts and school bus contractors have increasingly been targeted in recent years due to the number of vehicles typically stored together in fleet yards.
The wayward driver ran out of juice on the highway, so they had to pull over to the side of the road. Instead of getting towed to a nearby charging station, they opted to use a generator to slowly recharge the vehicle.
That’s less than ideal and the California Highway Patrol joked, “Thoughts and prayers won’t add miles to your battery… but thankfully they brought their own generator.” They also posted an image of the incident set to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer.
On a more serious note, the highway patrol noted that “Mountain driving, elevation changes, and higher speeds can drain your EV battery much faster than expected.” They went on to encourage visitors to plan ahead, charge up, and leave yourself a little extra range. If you fail to heed their advice, you might end up like this driver and need an “unscheduled stop on the shoulder.”
The 2026 Audi S e-tron GT starts at $127,700 and features a 105 kWh battery pack that feeds a dual-motor all-wheel drive system developing up to 670 hp (500 kW / 679 PS). It enables the model to accelerate from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in 3.3 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 152 mph (245 km/h).
Buyers will also find a respectable range of up to 300 miles (483 km). That wasn’t enough for this driver, but the 320 kW DC fast charging capability can take the battery from 10% to 80% in as little as 18 minutes.
Audi also offers an even more powerful RS e-tron GT performance for $170,500. It has 912 hp (680 kW / 925 PS) and hits 60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.4 seconds. However, the range drops to 278 miles (447 km).
Federal grants with awards ranging from several hundred thousand to tens of millions of dollars are available to help implement school safety measures, including improving school infrastructure and security, and strengthening emergency response planning and coordination.
Two federal funding programs are currently soliciting applications: One for states and the other for school districts.
The School Safety Enhancement (SSE) program was announced May 27 by the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human services on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. SSE is expected to fund 30 awards nationwide to state agencies defined by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The estimated award range of the SSE grants are $500,000 to $5 million each. Administrative costs are capped at 10 percent of the annual grant award. Funds will supplement and not replace existing non-federal funds. Grants also cannot be used for construction renovation or repair of school facilities.
Projects could include safety and security exercises conducted by states with local first responders, such as mock-casualty school bus incidents. Only one application per state is permitted.
Applications are due July 28, 2026, by 11:59 p.m. ET.
The other federal program benefiting individual public school and charter school districts as well as school boards, local governments and law enforcement agencies is the School Violence Prevention Program (SVVP) through the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS.
Eligible programs are emergency operations planning, active threat response coordination, and school safety assessments. The funding caps at $500,000 per award and requires matching local funds of at least 25 percent. Approximately $1 million of the available funding will be reserved for microgrants of up to $100,000 for school districts, including rural, tribal and low-resourced schools.
The SVPP application deadline is Aug. 11 at 4:59 p.m. ET.
How Federal Funding Could Be Used for School Bus Training
One program that could benefit from either state or local funding is Operation STEER in Texas. Diane Wilson, the safety and training specialist for the Region 6 Education Service Center in Huntsville, Texas, organizes and presents the annual training in coordination with a state grant and with local fire and police departments that consists of mock-casualty school bus crashes.
She noted SSE and SVVP emphasize prevention, preparedness training and coordinated safety efforts, all of which are key components of her events.
“While Operation STEER is currently a Texas-specific program, we are in the process of developing a broader initiative that will expand the model on a larger scale,” she added. “Given ESC’s role within the Texas education system and our partnership with [Texas Education Agency], I will believe there could be opportunities to position STEER as part of a larger school safety effort that aligns well with the objectives of this funding.”
Paul Hasenmeier, the fire chief and director of public safety for Hernando County, Florida, encouraged all states to apply for SSE in particular. He regularly works with school districts on developing mock casualty incidents that train both district personnel and first responders on topics such as extrication, fuel and fires. He collaborated with Wilson last summer to present a smoke in the school bus class at STN EXPO West in Reno, Nevada.
He added that districts providing such training, could expect to incur expenses, such as hiring a consultant to teach towing old school buses, acquiring school buses to cut up and any facility fees unless a school site is used. There are also some logistical items such as water, food, tent, chairs, etc., as needed. He also noted that fire departments wouldn’t charge to compensate for their firefighter salaries if they get to cut up a bus in training.
The STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada will open July 10 with a half-day seminar on best practices for training school bus drivers to respond to security threats. The session is led by Jim Levine, president and CEO of Levine Security Services, which produces the School Transportation Active-Threat Response Training, or S.T.A.R.T.
“These grants are golden opportunities for school transportation professionals to gain the advanced safety training we offer,” he added. “We did two email campaigns to state school transportation directors as well as sending out to our database of transportation and school officials announcing both grants.”
A northwest Ohio pastor as well as a school bus driver was arrested on allegations involving sex crimes against minors, prompting his dismissal from a local church and a suspension from his job with a public school district.
According to the Deshler Police Department, Christopher Walter, 52, was charged with grooming and sexual battery. The sexual battery charge alleges the victim was a minor, and that Walter was more than two years older than the alleged victim.
Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2907.03, sexual battery can apply in cases involving adults who hold positions of authority or trust over minors.
Walter was booked into the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio on June 2, court records show. During an initial court appearance the next day, a judge set bond at $30,000, with 10 percent permitted for release.
Administrators with Patrick Henry Local Schools confirmed Walter was employed by the district as a bus driver. Following his arrest, the district suspended him without pay.
“Patrick Henry Local Schools is aware of the arrest and criminal charges involving an employee of the district,” the district said in a statement. “The employee has been suspended without pay. Because this is a personnel and legal matter, the district will have no further comment.”
Walter also served as lead pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Deshler. Church officials confirmed he was removed from that position following the allegations.
According to local news reporters Bishop Daniel Beaudoin described the accusations as serious and deeply troubling. He said the church acted after hearing of the allegations and emphasized that abuse has no place within the faith community.
“The abuse of anyone, especially minors, has no place in our church,” Beaudoin said via local reports. “We will continue to pray for those harmed, the congregation and all involved as we navigate this troubling situation.” The bishop did not provide additional details about Walter’s termination or any internal actions taken by the church.
Authorities have released few details about the investigation. The Deshler Police Department said it is not providing additional information at this time. “The matter remains under investigation, and no further information is being released currently.”
Court records do not indicate whether Walter had entered a plea at this report. Information regarding legal representation was not immediately available.
School officials did not say how long Walter had worked for the district. Church officials likewise did not provide details about his tenure as lead pastor. No information about the alleged sexual battery victims has been released. Authorities have not indicated whether additional charges could be filed as the investigation continues.
A school bus driver contracted to transport students for the Rantoul City School District in Illinois has been arrested on allegations of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, reported WCIA News.
According to the news report, 35-year-old Illinois school bus driver Johnnie C. McClendon Jr. was taken into custody May 28 following an investigation conducted by the Rantoul Police Department. Police said McClendon was arrested without incident.
McClendon is employed by First Student Inc., the transportation company contracted to provide bus services for the district, said police via the article.
“At this time, investigators have received no allegations of misconduct related to his employment, and the investigation appears to involve matters unrelated to his position with the company,” the police department said in a statement to local news reporters.
Police reportedly declined to release additional details, citing the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and the privacy of those involved. Court records had not been updated as of Friday to reflect formal charges filed by the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office. McClendon remained in custody following his initial court appearance.
Rantoul City Schools Superintendent Scott Woods said district officials were notified by police of the arrest and immediately contacted First Student regarding the driver’s status.
“We have confirmed with First Student that the individual will not be driving for our school district in future,” Woods said in a letter sent to families.
Woods said district officials have been informed that the allegations are not related to McClendon’s conduct while driving a school bus. However, he noted the district has not received information indicating whether the alleged conduct involved a student enrolled in the district.
“We take all matters involving the safety and well-being of children extremely seriously and are monitoring the situation closely,” Woods wrote. “Student safety remains our highest priority.”
The district said it will continue cooperating with law enforcement and communicating with First Student as appropriate.
Police encouraged anyone who may have experienced inappropriate conduct, whether related to the case or otherwise, to contact the Rantoul Police Department. The investigation remains ongoing.
In 2024, a sheriff’s deputy working for the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department was forced out for being lousy at his job. But even though the deputy, Cristian Morales, was flagged in the state’s negative separation database, he ended up being hired a few months later by the Menasha Police Department.
Earlier this year, Morales was arrested and accused of stalking an ex-girlfriend using the city’s Flock camera system. He’s now facing criminal charges.
While some folks are suited for the difficult work of being a law enforcement officer, many are not. It’s hardly a controversial statement to say that police, who can arrest people and use force when necessary, should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us.
And yet our reporting at The Badger Project has found that police chiefs and sheriffs in Wisconsin often give these “wandering officers” second or third chances, despite research saying that officers fired or forced out for misconduct are more likely than other cops to reoffend.
At our last count, more than 300 active officers in Wisconsin had been fired or forced out of previous law enforcement jobs. Many of these separations involved novices who couldn’t cut it in a tough job during their probationary period, when the bar for termination is low. But some, we’ve found, lost jobs for misconduct, including drunk driving, writing misleading reports and using sexist and racist language.
In Wisconsin, law enforcement agencies can report to the state DOJ when they fire or force out an officer, so we can track when that cop goes on to get hired by another policing agency. But we are currently unable to track these wandering officers who have been fired or forced out in other states and come to work here because we don’t have a list of all law enforcement officers here.
Peter Cameron
That’s why The Badger Project, along with our partners at the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organization, requested the full list of names and work histories from the Wisconsin Department of Justice and sued when it refused.
In April, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford ruled in our favor and ordered the DOJ to release the records. She cited a previous state appeals court ruling that said law enforcement officers “necessarily relinquish certain privacy and reputational rights by virtue of the amount of trust society places in them and must be subject to public scrutiny.”
Prominent members of Wisconsin’s law enforcement community have criticized the judge’s ruling, saying it goes too far. An appeal could be coming.
Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, wrote an op-ed saying the release of these records could put officers at “risk of harassment, doxxing and worse.” He said officers’ birthdates are part of the records whose release we are seeking. Not so: While our initial records request asked for birthdates or birth years (to distinguish between officers with the same name), our lawsuit only asked for birth years, not months and days.
The state DOJ raised another objection, saying release of the names would jeopardize undercover officers. But what cop uses his or her real name when working undercover? We did not request photos of the officers.
I salute and thank the men and women in law enforcement who are serving their communities. I don’t envy the chiefs and sheriffs who must staff their agencies at a time when finding good job applicants for law enforcement jobs is as hard as ever.
And you know what? We at The Badger Project are not against second chances for cops who screwed up. Perhaps an officer who made a fireable mistake has learned from it. Whether that officer should continue in law enforcement is not for us to decide. Our job, as journalists, is to shine a light on those in power and get facts to the public who are being policed by these folks.
If chiefs or sheriffs want to hire an officer with problems in the past, they should say so publicly and defend their decision. They just can’t make these decisions in secret.
Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (wisfoic.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to open government. Peter Cameron is managing editor of The Badger Project, a nonprofit news outlet.
A fight between two students on a Baldwin-Whitehall School District school bus near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania sent a sixth grader to the hospital and led to a simple assault charge against an eighth-grade student, according to police and the victim’s family, reported WPXI News.
The incident reportedly happened when students from Harrison Middle School were riding home from school. Video recorded by other students captured part of the altercation.
Jason Scanlon told local news reporters that his son, Jacen, had been dealing with alleged bullying for months before the fight escalated. “It became a group thing, making my son extremely uncomfortable until it became something physical, which I knew was coming,” Scanlon said. “The school was warned it was coming multiple times.”
Fight on the School Bus
According to the news report, the fight began after his son argued with a younger girl, who is related to the eighth grader accused in the attack, at school. “It was a Tuesday, he went to school, apparently got into a little bit of an argument with this younger girl who ended up being the sister of the child who attacked him,” Scanlon said via the article.
Whitehall police reportedly said the older student, who was wearing a cast, punched Jacen during the fight. “He’s wearing a cast and the first punch he throws is at my son’s nose with a cast,” Scanlon told reporters.
The bus driver stopped the bus and called 911. Police and emergency crews responded, and Jacen was taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital. His injuries included a broken nose and a mild concussion, according to his father.
Whitehall police filed a simple assault charge against the eighth-grade student. Scanlon said he repeatedly contacted school administrators before the incident. “Emails, meetings, phone calls, multiple times. I went to [them] for help,” he said of prior attempts to report the alleged bullying.
Baldwin-Whitehall Superintendent Dr. Randal Lutz said via the article that the situation involved “two students who chose to engage in a fight” and noted both students had opportunities to de-escalate. Jacen received a three-day suspension. District officials said the eighth-grade student also faced disciplinary action, though they did not disclose specific consequences. Both students have since returned to class.
A Michigan man already free on bond in a separate assault case is accused of stealing a decommissioned school bus, crashing it into a tree and ditch, and fleeing on foot, reported Mlive News.
Andre Weston, 21, of Carrollton Township, was charged May 11 with unlawfully driving a motor vehicle, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Police said Weston left the adult foster care facility where he lives around 8 p.m. May 8 without authorization. Staff at the facility in the 800 block of Piper Drive reported him missing about 90 minutes later.
As officers headed to the facility, a call came in around 9:45 p.m. from a homeowner on Lincoln Street reporting that a school bus had become stuck in his front yard.
The homeowner reportedly told police he noticed the stolen school bus driving down the residential street late at night and thought it seemed unusual. The bus later began backing down the road before veering into the yard, striking a tree and becoming lodged in a ditch.
The driver then exited through the back door and ran toward Mapleridge Road. Officers later found Weston near Carrollton High School, about a half-mile from the crash site.
Alleged Stolen Bus Taken from Contractor
After being advised of his rights, Weston admitted to stealing the bus from the high school parking lot, police said via the news report. The stolen school bus had been decommissioned and recently purchased from the school district by contractor Dean Transportation. Investigators said the vehicle had been left unsecured with the keys inside.
A tow truck was required to remove the bus from the ditch, and police are reportedly reviewing surveillance footage to determine exactly when the bus was taken. Weston was arraigned Monday in Saginaw County District Court before Judge M. Randall Jurrens.
At the time of the incident, Weston was free on bond in a separate case filed in March charging him with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors allege he assaulted two female staff members at the foster care facility where he lives. A preliminary examination on the new charge is scheduled for May 26.
This article was produced by the nonprofit journalism publication Bolts, which covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office will stop using dozens of AI surveillance cameras posted up across Madison and surrounding towns, after the county Board of Supervisors pulled funding from a contract with Flock Safety, the latest setback in this state for the Atlanta-based tech company.
Flock has swiftly grown a sprawling, nationwide network of cameras that photograph passing cars and use AI to track their movements with precision, with thousands of law enforcement agencies installing Flock cameras in exchange for access to the company’s database. But many local governments are nowbreakingoff their agreements with Flock after numerous instances where the cameras were misused and breached, or where the data they collected ended up in ICE’s hands.
Within Dane County, the cascade started when the city of Verona pulled its three automated license plate readers from the Flock network in November, after police officers elsewhere in the country accessed Verona’s cameras on behalf of immigration agents. Bolts previously reported that Flock ignored demands by Verona officials to take down the cameras for months after they ended the contract, and the city eventually covered the surveillance cameras with black plastic bags to protect residents’ privacy. Verona Mayor Luke Diaz told Bolts at the time that the county government’s contract with Flock was “the next big domino” to fall in Wisconsin.
Verona’s representative on the Dane County Board, Supervisor Chad Kemp, then proposed defunding the sheriff’s agreement with Flock, and the board voted 32-1 in April to strip $80,000 from the budget allocated to paying for the cameras. Sheriff Kalvin Barrett’s office confirmed to Bolts via email on April 30 that he will abide by the board’s wishes and cease using Flock.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett contracted with the tech surveillance company Flock Safety without the approval of the county board. His office says it’s considering alternatives to Flock after the county board pulled funding. He is shown at the Wisconsin State Capitol during a May 21, 2021, meeting of the Speaker’s Task Force on Racial Disparities Subcommittee on Law Enforcement Policies and Standards. (Will Cioci / Wisconsin Watch)
Other Wisconsin cities have dropped their Flock contracts since Dane County’s vote, including Monona, a suburb of Madison, and Oshkosh, in Winnebago County, where the police chief not just ended the contract but also covered cameras in plastic bags after Flock allegedly misrepresented how its data was used.
Diaz is heartened by this ongoing domino effect that’s rocking Wisconsin. “If police chiefs are bailing on it, that really shows momentum,” he saidin a follow-up interview this month. “I feel like, at least politically, it is a sign that we’re winning.”
“It really shows that local activists can make a really big difference,” he said. “Small communities can be laboratories of democracy, and we can stand up to be an example for other communities.”
Now privacy activists are pushing to remove Wisconsin’s remaining Flock cameras, including those operated by the Milwaukee Police Department and by the University of Wisconsin-Madison police.
But beyond targeting any specific Flock contract, they’re also pressuring local officials across the state to set proactive guardrails around AI surveillance technologies.
They hope to stop law enforcement agencies from responding to their wins against Flock by just turning to Flock’s competitors to install similar systems of automated license plate readers (ALPRs).
A spokesperson for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office told Bolts that the office is already exploring other vendors to replace Flock.
Law enforcement agencies often deploy invasive technologies like ALPRs without notifying the people being spied on and without approval from elected officials, said Jon McCray-Jones, a policy analyst with the ACLU of Wisconsin. He warns that, without robust protections limiting what police can do, residents will be “playing a game of Whack-A-Mole with surveillance companies” as police seek lesser-known companies like Motorola.
“We’re starting to miss the forest for the trees, where the conversation has been about how bad Flock is,” McCray-Jones told Bolts. “Sure, the headline changes with a slightly better company. But the innate issues around ALPRs don’t. You still have similar cameras, similar databases, similar mass, warrantless tracking. You just have a different logo on the contract.”
The Dane County sheriff was able to install the Flock system initially without getting approval from the board since it was paid for by a $68,750 grant funded by a separate surveillance company, Axon Enterprise. Axon used to have a partnership with Flock but has since severed it. The sheriff’s spokesperson ruled out seeking outside funding again.
Jade, a Madison resident and privacy advocate who created Deflock Dane, a project that maps the cameras that watch over the area, warns that a new technology could just as easily be installed to replace the Flock cameras without any public input. (Jade agreed to talk using only their first name for privacy concerns.)
“Some regulation has to be put in place,” Jade said. “Reacting to whatever secretive contract is signed in the future might work, but it is not ideal to have a revolving door of surveillance companies.”
A Flock Safety camera is aimed toward traffic traveling near a gas station, April 15, 2026, in Stoughton, Wis. (Angela Major / WPR)
In the absence of state restrictions, the ACLU of Wisconsin is advocating for local governments to adopt ordinances that give elected officials oversight over police surveillance. A model policy endorsed by the ACLU called Community Control Over Police Surveillance, or CCOPS, would require law enforcement to get approval from a city council or county commission before using new surveillance tools, as well as develop use policies and provide annual reports on them.
According to the ACLU, 26 jurisdictions nationwide already have a CCOPS ordinance in place, but the city of Madison is the only one in Wisconsin. (Madison police currently have no ALPR contract.) Dane County has no such ordinance, which gives the sheriff a lot more discretion.
Supporters say CCOPS ordinances allow cities to better vet the vendors that are hired, while also allowing residents to weigh in on what level of surveillance and risk they are willing to accept before the technology is used on them. McCray-Jones says elected officials can make informed decisions “instead of having to look into these technologies on their own and after the fact, in the aftermath when the damage is already done.”
But efforts to curtail AI surveillance in this way are hitting a wall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s most populous city, which became a cautionary tale for Flock when a police officer repeatedly used the cameras to stalk a romantic partner. The police chief quickly revoked most officers’ access but the city is continuing to use Flock cameras at this time.
In March, four members of the common council wrote a letter calling on the city to adopt a CCOPS policy. They also demanded other checks on surveillance, such as a requirement for officers to list a case number to justify searching the network, routine civilian hearings and independent audits, and a ban on ALPRs being used for immigration.
Even as they push for stronger oversight, though, a 2023 state law known as Act 12 has sharply limited Milwaukee’s ability to regulate police surveillance.
Though primarily a tax bill aimed at stabilizing pension debts, Act 12 forced Milwaukee to abandon civilian oversight in exchange for the funds. It stripped the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission of its oversight authority, gave the police chief broad control over department policy and restricted the city council’s ability to set new rules.
Until then, the commission had offered a relatively strong model of civilian control, like when it banned officers from using chokeholds and no-knock warrants, putting it in the crosshairs of the local police union. Act 12 made it into a “rubber stamp” for the police.
Attendees protest facial recognition technology during the Feb. 5, 2026, meeting of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. (Devin Blake / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Several council members told Bolts that Act 12 also interferes with their ability to forbid the Milwaukee Police Department from using Flock cameras, enact a CCOPS policy or set standards for how the city uses surveillance technology.
“We cannot propose that law here,” said Ald. Alex Brower, who cosigned the letter endorsing CCOPS. “It was extremely frustrating to find that out. There is less democratic control than there should be.”
Another council member who signed the letter, Sharlen Moore, echoed Brower’s concern, saying, “We do not have a lot of power and say-so around how they spend their budget.”
Moore and Brower are hopeful that the state could eventually restore some level of outside control over Milwaukee police; voters this fall are electing a new governor and Legislature, and Democrats hope to win control of the state government for the first time since 2010. But until the state takes action, the council members say they’ll have to rely on the police to voluntarily restrict their use of surveillance.
Brower told Bolts, “The police chief would not have banned facial recognition technology on his own if it hadn’t been for the groundswell of regular people.”
Now he hopes for a similar public outcry against ALPRs and other AI surveillance. Echoing the Madison-based advocates who say they’ll keep fighting contracts in Dane County, he said, “We need an active and engaged and organized population that is fighting for their liberties.”
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