Wisconsin Woman Stopped Twice by Police After Flock Camera Software Error Linked Her to Homicide

A Wisconsin woman was wrongly pulled over twice after Flock Safety's license plate software incorrectly flagged her car in a homicide investigation.

Amber Newell of Brookfield, Wisconsin was stopped by police on two separate occasions after automated license plate recognition software linked to Flock Safety incorrectly associated her vehicle with a homicide case in Milwaukee. Each stop placed Newell — who had no connection to the crime — in a tense encounter with law enforcement acting on what they believed was a legitimate system alert. The stops stem from a 'wanted alert' generated by Flock's software, which uses a network of fixed cameras to read and cross-reference license plates against law enforcement databases. Flock Safety is a private company that sells automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems to hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the United States, building one of the largest private surveillance networks in the country. The case highlights ongoing concerns about the accuracy and consequences of automated vehicle-tracking systems when they produce false matches — particularly when those misidentifications involve serious violent crimes.

Why it matters

False matches from automated license plate systems can expose innocent people to armed police encounters in high-stakes situations, with serious safety and civil liberties implications. As Flock's camera network expands across hundreds of jurisdictions, errors like this one can propagate quickly and repeatedly before being caught.

What's next

It is not reported whether Newell is pursuing legal action or whether Flock Safety or the involved agencies have announced corrective steps.

Key facts

• Amber Newell, a Brookfield, Wisconsin resident, was pulled over twice by police due to the erroneous alert
• The software incorrectly connected her vehicle to a homicide investigation in Milwaukee
• The alerts were generated through Flock Safety's license plate recognition system
• Flock Safety operates one of the largest private automated license plate reader networks in the US, serving hundreds of law enforcement agencies
• A separate report indicated Flock had explored tapping rideshare dashcam footage to expand its surveillance data

Bias & framing notes

Source 1 links to a local TV news report (Local 12) about the specific incident involving Newell, providing the factual basis for the story. Source 2 from Flowingdata references a separate but related Flock story about dashcam surveillance expansion but provided no body text, making it impossible to assess its claims. The available reporting focuses almost entirely on the harm to Newell, with no on-record response from Flock Safety or the involved police departments included in the excerpt.

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