Jefferson County, Wis. sheriff suspends Flock camera use after unauthorized data release

First reported: September 11, 2026 · 3 sources

Jefferson County Sheriff Travis Maze announced the sheriff's office is suspending its use of Flock Safety license plate reader cameras after learning that agency data was released without the office's permission. Maze said Flock had told him during a 2025 system expansion that data would not be shared without consent, and that information tied to 2025 investigations was later made public anyway. He said he was still awaiting an explanation from Flock and stated he had no evidence of misuse by his own staff. The suspension follows similar moves by Menasha and the Dane County Sheriff's Office, which ended its Flock use in June.

Why this matters

The suspension was driven by a law enforcement agency's own distrust of vendor assurances about data sharing, rather than by outside privacy advocacy — a dynamic other departments weighing ALPR contracts may face.

Key facts

Sheriff Travis Maze said Flock told him during a 2025 expansion that data would not be released without the office's permission.
Maze said data from 2025 investigations was made public without consent and that he felt the agency was lied to.
Maze said he had no evidence of wrongdoing by his own staff and was still awaiting a response from Flock.
Menasha ended its Flock use the prior week; the Dane County Sheriff's Office did so in June.
The article does not specify how the data was released or to whom.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

I feel that we were lied to : Jefferson Co . Sheriff Office suspends Flock cameras (channel3000.com, September 11, 2026)
Jefferson County Sheriff suspends use of Flock cameras (hngnews.com, September 11, 2026)
Jefferson County Sheriff suspends use of Flock cameras (Wdtimes, September 11, 2026)

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BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated September 12, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.