Yet another person has had to face police with their guns drawn due to a Flock camera error. Video footage shows multiple police cars stopping a car on a major highway in Wisconsin, with the driver getting out of the car and putting their hands up because the vehicle was flagged by the Flock camera system. However, when the cops delved into the matter further, it turned out that the entire encounter was a waste of time.
Multiple police cars halt traffic on major highway over Flock camera mishap
In a video taken on August 6 from a car driving along I-94 in Waukesha County, a silver SUV was stopped by at least three police vehicles in the middle of the highway, according to FOX 6 News Milwaukee.
It shows traffic on the interstate coming to a complete stop as Brookfield cops pull their guns on the driver, who got out of the vehicle and put their arms up. Police said that the SUV was pulled over because it was flagged by a Flock camera in connection to a homicide in Milwaukee.
However, when the cops reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department, they learned that the MPD no longer needed the car or any of the people inside. As a result, the officers later let the driver go.
It remains unclear why the car was still in the system to be flagged by the automated license reader system or why the cops didn’t contact the Milwaukee Police Department first before sending multiple squad cars to detain the driver and bring traffic to a halt.
However, this is not the first time, nor the last time, that Flock cameras made a serious error. Back in July, a car reviewer walking out of Kohl’s found himself surrounded by police who had their guns drawn when his Range Rover was mistakenly flagged as being stolen.
The report notes that two members of the Milwaukee Police Department have faced criminal prosecutions for stalking citizens by using Flock cameras.
One user reacting to the story on Reddit was not surprised that the error happened: “OH, you mean the AI powered surveillance systems that no citizen asked for messed up and caused harm to innocent people in our community? … Better question yet, how do we get this crap out of our community? It’s invasive. It’s expensive. It’s unreliable.”
