Saturday, September 5, 2026
Racine public defender pleads guilty to obstructing officers
Milana Doné
RACINE — A public defender pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing officers during a hearing Aug. 27, according to online court records.
The charge against 28-year-old Cole Covey originally was filed as a misdemeanor last December, but was amended to an ordinance violation.
The judge ordered Covey to pay a fine and self report to the Wisconsin Office State Bar Office of Lawyer Regulations within 30 days, wherein the charge will be dismissed with prejudice, the court records said.
Covey reportedly attended a hearing in March 2025 with his client, who was an inmate. A Racine Count Sheriff's Office deputy allowed Covey additional time to speak with his client in a back hallway at the courthouse before deputies escorted the inmate back to Racine County Jail.
According to RCSO, a deputy intervened when the inmate began wandering down an adjacent hallway. Covey reportedly positioned himself in the deputy's path, and the deputy pushed past Covey and escorted the inmate toward the elevator.
Covey sent a letter to the deputy's supervisor alleging that the deputy had shoved the inmate into a wall twice.
Covey's allegations were forwarded to the Sheriff's Professional Standards Unit, which conducted an investigation and interviewed Covey. After being shown body camera footage, Covey reportedly stood by the accusations.
RCSO said the allegations were proven to be false by the body camera footage, witness statements and a lack of physical evidence.
Friday, September 4, 2026
Racine County sheriff orders immediate removal of Flock cameras used by RCSO
Journal Times Staff
RACINE — Sheriff Christopher Schmaling has ordered the immediate removal of all Flock cameras operated by the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.
The decision was made because Flock appears to have been collecting and retaining information beyond what the Sheriff’s Office understood or agreed to, according to an RCSO news release.
The sheriff’s office entered into an agreement with Flock with the understanding that information collected by its cameras would be subject to a 30-day retention period and used for legitimate public-safety and crime-solving purposes, the release said.
RCSO has since learned that Flock generates a separate data set from information collected by its cameras and markets that dataset to other government and private customers through its “Traffic Analytics” product, according to the release.
The release said Flock confirmed that the aggregated dataset is retained for up to five years, separate from and in addition to the 30-day retention period the Sheriff's Office understood to apply to all information generated by its cameras for public-safety and crime-solving purposes.
“This is not what we agreed to, and it is not what the public was led to believe,” Schmaling said in the release. “The sheriff’s office will not participate in a system that appears to use public safety as a justification for mass surveillance and the collection and monetization of information about innocent people. If Flock used the public-safety purpose of this technology to build a broader commercial data business without the public’s knowledge, that is a serious breach of trust. We will not tolerate it.”
RCSO has obtained legal counsel and is taking steps to terminate its agreement with Flock, the release said.
According to the release, the sheriff’s office will continue to explore the use of Automatic License Plate Reader technology through alternative vendors.
ALPR technology has assisted deputies in solving serious crimes, including a homicide, a road-rage firearm incident and a nationwide identity-theft operation.
“We are not abandoning a technology that can help us protect the public,” Schmaling said. “We are abandoning a vendor that appears to have violated the trust placed in it. We will continue to use ALPR technology responsibly, with appropriate safeguards and accountability. The technology did not fail the public. Flock failed the public.”
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