Flock spent $102K lobbying for Wisconsin license plate reader grants

The useful part

Flock reported spending $36,000 each in the first and second halves of 2025 and the first half of 2026, according to lobbying reports. Jesse James, R-Thorp and Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, along with a group of 14 Republican representatives. Municipalities both lobbied for the bills while the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin lobbied against it.

How it works

• Flock cameras are now coming under fire nationwide over privacy concerns with the technology and abuse of its database by law enforcement.
• Cities across Wisconsin are looking into changing how law enforcement uses the cameras and what data is available beyond their municipality.
• Liberty, meanwhile, is working with a group preparing a Flock camera lawsuit in Waukesha County while highlighting the privacy concerns about the use of the cameras without warrants.
• Republican governor candidate Tom Tiffany has advocated for pausing allowing the use of state funding for Flock and creating a task force on his first day to establish stronger privacy protections,...