Police in Winona, Minnesota, are asking the public for information after the department’s Flock license plate reader cameras were cut down and stolen.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Winona Police Department said it discovered that the city’s eight AI-powered cameras were missing after an officer noticed on Aug. 1 that they hadn’t logged any new activity.
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Flock’s cameras work by recording the license plates and characteristics of every vehicle that passes by, allowing law enforcement, even those from different cities and states, to track cars across the country by querying a central database.
Officers followed up, according to the press release, by checking each camera location, where they found that the poles holding the license plate readers had been “cut down near the base.” In each instance, the poles were located nearby, but the cameras were nowhere to be found.
The department believes the thefts took place sometime between July 29 and Aug. 1. If the city chooses to replace the cameras and poles, the cost will come in at an estimated $3,000 for each of the eight installation sites, not including service fees from Flock.
The thefts are part of a growing backlash against the surveillance technology. Since the thefts were announced, the Winona Police Department’s Facebook page has since been inundated with comments celebrating the missing cameras.
“I need to buy whoever did this a drink,” one top comment said.
‘Surveillance state’
The incident is not the first time that Flock cameras in Minnesota have been targeted. Cameras in cities including Faribault, Edina and Duluth have also been subjected to theft and vandalism, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
The trend has also been present across the country. An analysis of Flock audit logs by Straight Arrow in February found numerous instances in which law enforcement used the technology in an attempt to track down vandals.
Much of the vandalism appears to be ideologically motivated. Jeffrey Scott Sovern, a 41-year-old Virginia native charged with destroying 13 Flock cameras, told Straight Arrow in February that he believed the cameras were unconstitutional and part of “an unhealthy surveillance state.”
Sovern’s case is still pending. His legal defense fund has raised more than $40,000.
Aside from being cut down, Flock cameras have also been spray painted. And some individuals have even resorted to protesting the technology by placing signs in front of the cameras.
Controversial technology
While law enforcement touts the cameras as a necessary tool for solving crime, critics argue that the technology is overly invasive and ripe for abuse.
Flock cameras have been the subject of controversy for years, whether over law enforcement secretly sharing license plate data with immigration officials or police officers being caught abusing the technology for personal uses, such as stalking ex-girlfriends.
But it’s not just citizens pushing back. Cities across the country have canceled their contracts with Flock in response to public pressure. The Los Angeles Police Department let its contract with Flock expire last month after an audit found that the cameras had a 32.3% error rate when flagging vehicles as stolen.
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