Police used Flock to track a man across state lines, then used the trips as grounds to search his car
404 Media reviewed court records showing Wisconsin police ran a man's plate through Flock, established that his vehicle "travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source state for marijuana as it is legal there", and used that pattern of lawful interstate travel as part of the probable cause for searching his car. The searches and arrest were in April 2025. The bail-jumping charge he was originally wanted on was dismissed; he was found guilty only of possession. This is a different category from the misuse cases already on this desk. Nobody here is accused of breaking the rules or stalking an ex. The system worked exactly as sold, and the output was a record of legal travel converted into a reason to search someone. The man is not named here: the practice is the story, and he is a private individual.
From the reporting
- Police established frequent travel to Michigan, where cannabis is legal, and cited it as probable cause in Wisconsin, where it is not.
- The quoted justification is from the criminal complaint: the vehicle "travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source state for marijuana".
- Searches and arrest occurred in April 2025; the records were reviewed by 404 Media.
- The bail-jumping charge was dismissed. The conviction was for possession alone.
- No misuse is alleged. That is the point of recording it: this is the documented, intended function of a plate-reader network.
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Open 404 Media report (opens in a new tab)Inclusion is not independent verification of every claim. Dates are the publisher's publication dates. Corrections are published, not quietly patched: see sources and corrections.