This Is the Creepiest Story You'll Read All Week
Police were given a system capable of tracking nearly any driver. Some officers immediately began using it to stalk people they knew.
This Is the Creepiest Story You’ll Read All Week
Police were given a system capable of tracking nearly any driver. Some officers immediately began using it to stalk people they knew.
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #982: Monday, July 27th, 2026
Let me tell you what happened in Milwaukee.
A police officer was given access to a powerful surveillance system called Flock.
The system didn’t listen to his phone calls.
It didn’t read his emails.
It did something much simpler.
It told him where people were going.
So the officer reportedly used it to search for the location of his romantic partner 124 times.
Then he searched for that partner’s former lover another 55 times.
Not because either person was suspected of committing a crime.
Not because a judge had signed a warrant.
Not because someone was missing, kidnapped, or in danger.
He was watching them.
And the machine…helped him do it.
The officer, Josue Ayala…eventually resigned from the Milwaukee Police Department …and pleaded guilty…to attempted misconduct in public office.
Then the story took an almost unbelievable turn.
One of the internal affairs detectives who investigated Ayala…was…himself…arrested and accused of misusing the same system.
Authorities say Detective Tehrangi Chapman used Flock to track two people…and secretly placed a GPS device on one person’s vehicle.
The man assigned to investigate the abuse of the surveillance system…was then accused of abusing the surveillance system.
That is not irony.
That is a warning.
ORIENTATION
Flock Safety operates a vast network of automated license-plate readers.
These cameras sit on poles…at intersections…in parking lots…near businesses…and along roads you drive every day.
They photograph license plates and capture identifying details about passing vehicles. Those observations are placed into a searchable database…generally retained for 30 days.
An authorized user can enter a plate number and reconstruct where that vehicle has recently appeared.
Your office.
Your home.
Your doctor’s office.
Your church.
Your child’s school.
A political meeting.
A divorce attorney.
A domestic-violence shelter.
A hotel where you weren’t supposed to be.
One camera produces a photograph.
Thousands of connected cameras produce a pattern.
And a pattern can become a map of your life.
Flock says its network now includes more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and works with thousands of law-enforcement agencies.
This was sold to communities as a way to find stolen cars…locate missing people…and catch dangerous suspects.
And…it can do those things.
That is precisely what makes the issue difficult.
The best surveillance systems are never sold by saying:
We would like to build a searchable record of where innocent Americans travel.
They are sold with the case no decent person wants to oppose.
The abducted child.
The stolen vehicle.
The armed fugitive.
The mass shooter.
Once the system is installed…however…it does not photograph only criminals.
It photographs everyone.
It records first…and asks questions later.
And in many jurisdictions…an officer does not need a warrant to search it.
DOCTRINE
Here is the rule we need to remember:
A surveillance system should be judged not only by what a good person can accomplish with it…but by what a bad, reckless, obsessed, politically motivated, or frightened person can do with it.
That is where the sales presentation ends…and reality begins.
The people selling these systems want the public to imagine the finest officer in the department using the technology to rescue a missing child.
Fine.
Now imagine the worst officer in the department.
The jealous one.
The angry one.
The abusive one.
The officer going through a divorce.
The officer with a grievance.
The officer who wants to know where his former girlfriend sleeps.
The officer who sees a political opponent’s car outside a meeting.
The officer who believes that curiosity is close enough to probable cause.
That officer receives access to the same machine.
And…this is not a hypothetical objection cooked up by civil libertarians.
According to a tally cited by CNN from the Institute for Justice, officers have resigned or been arrested in at least two dozen cases involving alleged misuse of Flock’s system to stalk romantic interests.
In July, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests of five former Albany police officers accused of accessing retained license-plate data for non-law-enforcement purposes.
Five officers.
One department.
One internal audit.
Three more officers in metro Atlanta were fired later that month following accusations that they had searched for people they knew.
And now ask yourself the uncomfortable question:
How many officers misused the system but were never caught?
How many searches appeared just plausible enough to pass?
How many departments aren’t conducting meaningful audits?
How many citizens will never know that someone with a badge typed in their license plate and quietly began reconstructing their movements?
We only know about the abuses somebody discovered.
SIGNAL
The problem is bigger than a handful of dishonest officers.
The real signal is the infrastructure itself.
Before systems like Flock, following someone required effort.
An officer had to leave the station.
Use a vehicle.
Spend time.
Risk being seen.
Possibly involve another officer.
Create records.
Explain the expense.
Physical surveillance created friction.
Friction is not always an inconvenience.
Sometimes…friction is a safeguard.
Flock removes much of it.
A search that once required personnel…time…gasoline…supervisory awareness…and physical exposure…can potentially be performed from behind a screen.
That changes the equation.
When surveillance becomes fast…cheap…quiet…and searchable…it will inevitably be used more often.
Not only against dangerous suspects.
Against ordinary people.
Against people who have never been accused of anything.
Against people who will never know they were searched.
In Ayala’s case, the stated justification for the searches was reportedly a single vague word:
“Investigation.”
Chapman allegedly used terms including “training” and “test.”
That was the gate.
That was the mighty wall…standing between private travel and personal surveillance.
A few words typed into a box.
Only after the abuse was uncovered…did Milwaukee require a case number and explanation and begin conducting monthly audits.
Read that again.
The safeguards came after the stalking.
This is how privacy is usually lost in America.
Not with a dramatic announcement.
Not with Congress formally declaring that citizens no longer possess the right to move around without being catalogued.
It happens…one camera…at a time.
One database at a time.
One “public-safety tool” at a time.
Each expansion sounds narrow.
Each individual record appears harmless.
Then…someone connects the records.
Suddenly, the government…or a private company working with the government…doesn’t have a picture of your car.
It has your routine.
CONTINUITY
Flock says it has introduced an audit-assistance tool designed to identify abnormal searches.
Good.
That is an admission that abnormal searches can happen…and that the previous guardrails were not enough.
But…internal auditing is not a substitute for law.
Company policy is not a warrant requirement.
A software alert is not independent judicial oversight.
And “most officers use it properly” is not an answer to the constitutional question.
Most government employees would probably use the contents of your home responsibly, too.
We still require a warrant before allowing them to search it.
Privacy rights do not exist because every official is corrupt.
They exist…because power must have limits…even when most officials are honorable.
Especially then.
Because once the machinery is built…it will not always remain in the hands of the people who promised to use it carefully.
Administrations change.
Police chiefs change.
Policies change.
Definitions of “suspicious” change.
The cameras remain.
The database remains.
The temptation remains.
And the next official to gain access…may have very different ideas about who deserves to be watched.
WHAT MUST HAPPEN
This technology should not operate on trust alone.
At a minimum, communities should require:
A warrant for searches designed to reconstruct an identifiable person’s movements, except in clearly defined emergencies.
A valid case number attached to every search.
Specific written justification…not “investigation,” “training,” or “test.”
Automatic alerts for repeated searches involving the same vehicle.
Immediate supervisory review of unusual search patterns.
Strict limits on how long data is retained.
Public disclosure of which agencies can access locally collected data.
Prohibitions against using the system to monitor political, religious, medical, journalistic, or constitutionally protected activity.
Independent audits whose results are available to the public.
Meaningful criminal penalties for deliberate misuse.
A requirement that affected citizens be notified when their information was accessed illegally.
And there must be another rule:
No local police department should be able to quietly plug its cameras into a national surveillance network without the informed consent of the community paying for it.
This is not anti-police.
It is anti-unaccountable power.
A good officer…should not be expected to work inside a system…whose weak safeguards allow a reckless colleague to poison public trust.
And…the public…should not be forced to surrender privacy…merely because a useful investigative tool exists.
IDENTITY
You are not paranoid for caring about this.
You are paying attention.
There is a difference.
The people who build surveillance systems depend on the public evaluating each camera in isolation.
Just one pole.
Just one picture.
Just one license plate.
Just 30 days.
But privacy is rarely destroyed by one enormous intrusion.
It is destroyed…by assembling thousands of small intrusions into a system powerful enough…to know things no stranger should know.
Where you worship.
Who you visit.
Which doctor you see.
Which meetings you attend.
Where you spend the night.
That is not simply vehicle data.
That is your life…with a license plate attached.
The question is not whether Flock can help solve crimes.
It can.
The question is whether solving crimes requires constructing a system…capable of tracking the innocent without a warrant…and then trusting every person with access to behave.
Milwaukee has already given us the answer.
Albany has given us the answer.
The growing list of officers accused of turning a crime-fighting system into a personal stalking device…has given us the answer.
Build the power first and bolt on the safeguards later?
No.
We have seen that movie.
We know how it ends.
The cameras are already watching.
Now…it is our job…to watch the people behind them.
Don’t panic.
Pay attention.
#HoldFast
Back soon.
-Jack
Jack Hopkins
P.S.
Here is the part that should stay with you.
Milwaukee did not catch Josue Ayala.
A victim did.
Not through an audit.
Not through a supervisor.
Not through a compliance alert.
The person being tracked went looking…on their own…and found their own license plate sitting in somebody else’s search history.
That is the actual accountability system in most of this country right now.
A private citizen…getting curious…about their own life.
So if you take one thing from this piece, let it be this:
Ask your city council how many Flock cameras your community pays for.
Ask what the retention period is.
Ask who else can search the data your tax dollars collect.
Ask when the last audit was performed…and who read it.
Ask what happens to an officer who searches a plate for personal reasons.
Then ask for the answer in writing.
You are not obligated to prove you have something to hide.
They are obligated to prove they can be trusted with the map.
-Jack
SOURCES
Milwaukee — Officer Josue Ayala
CNN, “Inside the growing police use and misuse of Flock’s license-plate reader cameras” — https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/26/us/flock-cameras-surveillance-abuse
Wisconsin Examiner, “Milwaukee officer accused of misusing Flock surveillance cameras” — https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/02/26/milwaukee-officer-accused-of-misusing-flock-surveillance-cameras/
FOX6 Milwaukee, “Milwaukee police officer charged in Flock camera misuse case” — https://www.fox6now.com/news/milwaukee-police-officer-charged-flock-camera-misuse-case
WTMJ, “Former Milwaukee police officer sentenced for misusing Flock camera system” — https://wtmj.com/news/2026/07/15/former-milwaukee-police-officer-sentenced-for-misusing-flock-camera-system/
Spectrum News 1, “Former MPD officer who misused Flock cameras sentenced” — https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2026/07/15/former-mpd-officer-misuse-flock-cameras-sentencing
Milwaukee — Detective Tehrangi Chapman
WPR, “Second member of the Milwaukee Police Department charged with misuse of license plate reader system” — https://www.wpr.org/news/member-milwaukee-police-department-misuse-of-license-plate-reader-system
FOX6 Milwaukee, “Milwaukee police Flock misuse, detective accused of misconduct” — https://www.fox6now.com/news/milwaukee-police-officer-flock-misuse-chapman-charges
FOX 11, “2nd Milwaukee officer charged with using Flock cameras for stalking” — https://fox11online.com/news/crime/tehrangi-chapman-milwaukee-police-department-detective-flock-cameras-license-plater-readers-stalking-misconduct-public-office-criminal-charge
WFRV Green Bay, “Wisconsin police officer criminally charged after Flock camera and GPS tracker misuse” — https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/wisconsin-police-officer-criminally-charged-after-using-flock-cameras-to-obtain-location-information-of-citizens/
Albany, Georgia — five officers arrested
Georgia Bureau of Investigation press release (primary source), July 6, 2026 — https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2026-07-06/gbi-arrests-five-former-albany-police-department-officers-misuse-license
FOX 5 Atlanta — https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/5-albany-police-officers-arrested-misusing-license-plate-readers
CBS Atlanta — https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/5-georgia-officers-fired-arrested-for-misusing-access-to-citys-flock-cameras-gbi-says/
Metro Atlanta — three officers fired
Atlanta News First, “3 Fayetteville police officers fired, accused of misusing Flock camera system” — https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/07/17/3-fayetteville-police-officers-fired-accused-misusing-flock-camera-system/
Atlanta Journal-Constitution — https://www.ajc.com/news/2026/07/3-more-georgia-police-officers-fired-over-alleged-flock-camera-misuse/
The Citizen (full department statement) — https://thecitizen.com/2026/07/18/3-fayetteville-police-officers-fired-for-misusing-the-flock-camera-system/
CBS Atlanta, on the widening Georgia pattern — https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/another-georgia-officer-arrested-over-alleged-flock-camera-misuse-as-internal-audits-continue-uncovering-cases/
The constitutional fight
Institute for Justice, Norfolk ALPR litigation — https://ij.org/press-release/as-abuses-mount-nationwide-federal-government-calls-on-court-to-reject-lawsuit-challenging-constitutionality-of-license-plate-readers/
Institute for Justice, on Flock’s attempt to intervene — https://ij.org/press-release/federal-court-rejects-flock-safetys-late-bid-to-join-and-block-ijs-lawsuit-challenging-norfolks-mass-surveillance-cameras/
Courthouse News Service, district court ruling for Norfolk — https://courthousenews.com/judge-holds-norfolks-license-plate-reader-use-constitutional/
The Record, “Judge dismisses case alleging use of Flock cameras in Virginia city is unconstitutional” — https://therecord.media/judge-dismisses-flock-case
NBC News, on the underlying complaint — https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/virginia-police-used-flock-cameras-track-driver-safety-lawsuit-surveil-rcna230399
Flock’s network, retention, and audit tools
Flock Safety on 30-day default retention and deletion — https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/how-does-flock-handle-license-plate-data-deletion
Flock Safety compliance and audit tools — https://www.flocksafety.com/trust/compliance-tools
Eyes on Flock, independent aggregation of Flock transparency portals —
https://eyesonflock.com/
I took a couple days off this week to go to San Diego Comic Con. Wednesday, opening day, is one of the busiest of the year downtown San Diego.
Heading down, four-lane I-5 was a standstill, with two lanes closed approaching downtown.
I assumed a bad accident - they wouldn't do construction on SDCC Wednesday, would they?
What was it?
Officers and weirdly-dressed men in back, slowly going down the road - INSTALLING FLOCK CAMERAS EVERY ~100 YARDS ALONG THE BARRIERS BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH LANES!
INSANE. DANGEROUS. OUTRAGEOUS.
Multiple legal challenges filed in California..
target Flock safety...
claiming that their surveillance network..
VIOLATES State Privacy Laws...
by sharing driver movements outside California.