Waukesha County Flock cameras; Wis. Institute for Law & Liberty files lawsuit

WAUKEHSA COUNTY, Wis. - A lawsuit filed Thursday, Sept. 10, aims to stop Flock camera use in Waukesha County without warrants.

WILL lawsuit

What we know:

In the filing, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) alleges Flock cameras are pointed in people’s backyards, outside of churches and even outside of polling places in Waukesha County. WILL calls it a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The lawsuit alleges a dozen municipalities are using Flock cameras as "no limits government surveillance."

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"Our position is that if police want to use very powerful surveillance technology – they need to get a warrant," said Dan Lennington, deputy counsel for WILL.

WILL is representing groups and homeowners in the county.

"One of our plaintiffs lives here in Oconomowoc, and he has a Flock camera that is right outside his back door. It looks into his backyard," Lennington said.

Lennington says police need warrants when they ask cell phone companies for logs and locations of individuals. WILL believes license plate readers should be no different. Except Lennington says Flock cameras do so much more – like storing photographs of your vehicle, bumper stickers and even paint scratches in a database.

"And Flock can not only say where you are now, but they can look back 30 days and create a vehicle history map to see where you’ve gone, and predict the future – Flock brags about it on their website – about how they can predict where you’re going to be," Lennington said.

Some homeowners tell FOX6 News they have embraced nearby surveillance.

"We have had some problems around here with the rowdiness and crime and that’s reduced it also," said Jake Fell, who lives near Flock cameras.

Flock use

Big picture view:

WILL estimates there are about 120 Flock cameras in the county. Most are operated by municipalities, but Lennington says some private businesses have them too.

"Fleet Farm has some in Delafield, Home Depot has them all over the state. Lowes, hospitals, shopping malls, and once you have a contract with Flock, you have access to the database. You can search your own cameras – but you can also search the nationwide network," Lennington said.

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FOX6 News reached out to all the municipalities listed in the lawsuit. Most of the responses received back simply acknowledged the lawsuit or indicated they have not been served yet. Notably, Oconomowoc’s mayor told FOX6 the city will meet next week to vote on the future of Flock cameras. The Village of Mukwonago told FOX6 it used Flock on a limited trial basis since July and is already in the process of terminating its relationship with Flock.

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Bret Lemoine and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.

Waukesha CountyNews