Veteran Arrested After Recording Police Stop, Then Tracked by License-Plate System
Navy veteran Napoleon Jones was detained by a Waukesha County deputy after filming a traffic stop, and later the department ran more than 100 license-plate searches on his car.
While standing in a private parking area in Sussex, Wisconsin, Navy veteran Napoleon Jones filmed a police traffic stop on May 4, 2025, a right he was legally allowed to exercise. Deputy Brandon Shayhorn of the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office later stopped Jones again, claiming his temporary license plate was unreadable, and arrested him for alleged resistance, though no citations were filed. After five hours in custody, Jones was released and filed a federal lawsuit alleging the stop was unlawful.
During discovery, his attorney Nate Cade found that the sheriff’s office had accessed the Flock Safety license-plate reader system more than 100 times to locate Jones’s white BMW, with some queries made by Shayhorn himself. The searches were justified by the department as part of the citizen complaint investigation, despite no criminal suspicion. Jones argues the surveillance was retaliation for exercising his First Amendment right to record police activity. The case highlights concerns over unchecked use of automated plate-reader technology by law-enforcement agencies.
Why it matters
It shows how police can misuse surveillance tools to punish lawful recording of officers.
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