Lawsuit alleges Wisconsin sheriff’s office searched Flock cameras over 100 times to track veteran
Napoleon Jones says Waukesha County officers used automated licence-plate data in retaliation after he recorded a traffic stop. The allegations remain before the courts.
A federal lawsuit alleges officers from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office searched Flock Safety automated licence-plate-reader data more than 100 times to track Navy veteran Napoleon Jones after he recorded a traffic stop in Wisconsin.
Jones recorded an out-of-county officer from a private parking lot in Sussex on 4 May 2025. He was later stopped and arrested by deputy Brandon Shayhorn for alleged resisting and obstructing after disputing the stop. Jones was held for about five hours and released without charges.
An internal post-arrest memorandum, as reported by Reason, said a supervisor later determined the initial stop was unlawful and that Jones could not be compelled to produce identification. Jones subsequently filed a citizen’s complaint and began pursuing legal claims against the officers and the department.
His attorney, Nate Cade, reportedly found a Flock photograph of Jones’s white BMW dated 30 May 2025 while reviewing the sheriff’s office’s response. Further investigation identified more than 100 searches for the vehicle in the weeks after the arrest. Some searches were allegedly conducted by Shayhorn.
According to deposition testimony reported by TMJ4 News, officers said a lieutenant ordered the searches in connection with Jones’s complaint. Jones’s amended lawsuit, filed in July 2026, alleges the searches lacked a legitimate law-enforcement purpose and were intended to retaliate against his First Amendment right to record police.
There was no Flock camera at the parking lot where Jones was arrested. The allegations, including the purpose and legality of the searches, have not been established by a court.
