{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-04T08:57:35.427Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"menasha","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2025-menasha-wisconsin-police-officer-flock-alpr-searches-ex-girlfriend-vehicles-jail-sentence","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'made seven searches on Flock between October 7 and October 14, with five for the victim’s cars and two for his brother’s car.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'used his Menasha Police Department credentials while off duty to search for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend through the Flock automated license plate reader network.'; 'conducted multiple searches from his home in Appleton in October 2025'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to the criminal complaint, the officer used his Menasha Police Department credentials while off duty to search for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend through the Flock automated license plate reader network, making seven searches between 7 and 14 October 2025, five for her cars and two for his brother's car.","causal_attribution":"The criminal complaint as relayed by two outlets; one chain. The officer pleaded no contest to misconduct in office."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the victim spoke to Appleton police last October about concerns that he was using the Flock camera system to track her car and see if it was where she had told him it was.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to the complaint, the woman told Appleton police in October 2025 that she was concerned he was using the Flock camera system to track her car and see whether it was where she had told him it was.","causal_attribution":"WBAY's account of the complaint."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'with the reason in the system listed as “welfare.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'accessing thousands of cameras across large geographic areas under the stated reason of “welfare” checks.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The searches gave \"welfare\" as the reason; NBC 26 reports that they accessed thousands of cameras across large geographic areas.","causal_attribution":"Investigators' findings as reported."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'he searched for the victim’s vehicles while not on-duty as a police officer'; 'He also said he knew his decision to use it was wrong.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The officer told Appleton police that he searched for her vehicles while not on duty, out of desperation, bad judgment and lack of sleep, and that he knew it was wrong.","causal_attribution":"The officer's own statement as recorded in the complaint."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'one count of Stalking was referred by police.'; 'he has been charged with one count of Misconduct/Office-Act/Excess Authority, a Class I Felony'; 'later resigned and is no longer with the department.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"He was arrested in January 2026, charged with one count of misconduct in office (excess authority), a Class I felony, after police referred a stalking count, and was placed on administrative leave and later resigned.","causal_attribution":"Court records and the department's statement as reported by WBAY; no court record was inspected."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'a sentence of six months in jail, which he will serve immediately. The jail time will be followed by the three years probation.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'pleaded no contest under a plea agreement, but the court declined to follow the sentencing recommendation agreed to by prosecutors and defense attorneys.'; 'filed a motion seeking bond pending appeal and a stay of his jail sentence.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"He pleaded no contest under a plea agreement; on 17 August 2026 the court declined the agreed sentencing recommendation and imposed six months in jail, served immediately, followed by three years of probation, and the defense has since moved for bond pending appeal.","causal_attribution":"The sentencing hearing and a defense filing as reported; no court record was inspected."}],"effects":[{"label":"her vehicles searched on the Flock license-plate-reader network by her ex-boyfriend, an off-duty police officer","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wbay.com/2026/08/17/menasha-officer-gets-probation-misusing-flock-camera-system/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-04 (WBAY staff, 17 August 2026). Rests on the criminal complaint, court records and the sentencing hearing.","independence_group":"menasha-flock-criminal-complaint-court"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.nbc26.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/menasha/former-menasha-officer-jailed-after-flock-misuse-conviction","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live in English on 2026-10-04 (NBC 26, 18 August 2026). Rests on the criminal complaint, the sentencing and a defense filing; treated as the same chain as WBAY because both report the same complaint and hearing.","independence_group":"menasha-flock-criminal-complaint-court"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["privacy","justice","relationships"],"unknowns":["What the woman has said about the effect of the searches on her.","Whether any search returned a location for her vehicles.","The outcome of the motion for bond pending appeal and of any appeal."],"geography":{"basis":"The officer served with the Menasha Police Department, made the searches from his home in Appleton, Wisconsin, was investigated by Appleton police and was sentenced in Wisconsin (WBAY; NBC 26). The woman reported her concern to Appleton police; her residence is not stated.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional privacy and safety case, consistent with the held Flock officer-misuse rows: the criminal complaint and sentencing, reported by WBAY and NBC 26, establish that a Menasha police officer searched his ex-girlfriend's vehicles on the Flock license-plate-reader network off duty after she reported concern that he was tracking her car, and that he was convicted on a no-contest plea and jailed. The automated readers generated the plate-read records; the misuse is recorded as a human act. Neither the officer nor the woman is named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The criminal complaint, as reported by WBAY and NBC 26, says the officer searched for his ex-girlfriend's vehicles through the Flock automated license plate reader network, making seven searches between 7 and 14 October 2025. The plate-read records about her vehicles were the system's output; the searches are recorded as the officer's own acts. The sources do not describe the readers as AI.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Menasha, Wisconsin: a police officer who searched his ex-girlfriend's vehicles on the Flock license-plate-reader network while off duty is sentenced to six months in jail","summary":"According to a criminal complaint reported by WBAY and NBC 26, a Menasha police officer used his department credentials while off duty in October 2025 to search the Flock automated license-plate-reader network for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend, giving \"welfare\" as the reason. She had told Appleton police she was concerned he was using the system to track her car and check whether it was where she had said. Investigators found seven searches between 7 and 14 October, five of them for her cars. The officer was arrested in January 2026, charged with felony misconduct in office, pleaded no contest and resigned. On 17 August 2026 a judge rejected the agreed sentencing recommendation and imposed six months in jail followed by three years of probation; the defense has moved for bond pending appeal.","incidentDate":"2025-10-07","incidentEndDate":"2025-10-14","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-08-17","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader network, searched by the officer with his Menasha Police Department credentials (criminal complaint as reported by WBAY and NBC 26)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the criminal complaint reported by WBAY and NBC 26, the woman's vehicles were searched on the Flock license-plate-reader network by her ex-boyfriend, a police officer acting off duty; she had reported to police that she was concerned he was tracking her car. He pleaded no contest to misconduct in office and was jailed.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the officer's ex-girlfriend, whose vehicles were searched and who reported her concern to police (WBAY; NBC 26). The officer's brother, whose car was searched twice, is not counted: no harm to him is reported.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-WI","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wbay.com/2026/08/17/menasha-officer-gets-probation-misusing-flock-camera-system/","primarySourceLabel":"WBAY, 17 August 2026: Menasha officer gets jail, probation for misusing Flock camera system","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:47:06.250469+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:47:06.250469+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","police-misuse","ex-partner","wisconsin","menasha","appleton","made-claim-about"]}]}