A Milwaukee police detective who is charged on accusations of tracking two people using a department license plate tracking technology made his initial court appearance July 17 and remains out of custody on a signature bond.
Tehrangi Chapman, 51, was charged with a felony for misconduct in public office and one misdemeanor for misuse of a GPS device and is accused of improperly using department tools, including a controversial license plate tracking system known as Flock.
Court Commissioner Katharine Kucharski set a $1,000 signature bond for Chapman. Signature bonds do not need to be paid unless someone skips court or violates other conditions of their release.
Chapman, who is suspended from the Milwaukee Police Department, worked in police’s Internal Affairs Division, which investigates fellow officers, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities say during his time in internal affairs, Chapman investigated another police officer who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for using Flock to track an ex-partner and their new partner.
The investigation into Chapman began on Feb. 5 after someone, who did not identify him to police, complained that a detective was using department tools to get information about their family, according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators later determined that to be Chapman and found he had accessed 17 reports between 2019 and 2025 related to the person’s family. Investigators also determined Chapman had purchased a GPS tracker and tracked the person’s vehicle, but the data had been deleted, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators would later find that Chapman had searched the Flock database for that person’s license plate 17 times between January 2024 and January 2025, and another person’s three times on Jan. 7, 2025, according to a complaint.
Chapman did not speak to reporters and his attorney, Michael Hart, declined to comment to reporters after the brief hearing.
Chapman is not the first officer in Milwaukee or Wisconsin to be investigated for misuse of Flock.
Former police officer Josue Ayala, whom authorities say Chapman investigated, was sentenced to 12 months of probation and a $500 fine after he tracked an ex-girlfriend and her partner. That case prompted Milwaukee Police Department officials to overhaul its auditing process for how the system is used and how officers are deemed eligible to utilize it.
That audit revealed Chapman’s alleged misuse of Flock, according to court documents.
Officers’ misuse of Flock or allegations of it have occurred in Racine and Menasha as well.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@usatoday.com.
This story was updated to add new information and photos.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee police detective makes initial court appearance on 2 charges
Reporting by David Clarey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By David Clarey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
