Police in South Carolina are looking for whoever coated several Flock surveillance cameras with expanding foam. Just across the border in North Carolina, the public response appears to be: good luck with that.
As reported by Wis News 10, at least two automated license plate readers in Irmo were vandalized after someone covered their lenses with foam sealant, temporarily knocking the cameras out of action.
The cameras are part of a network of 11 already installed around town, with Irmo Town Council recently approving a contract worth more than $400,000 for another 22.
Police have acknowledged the damage, but the idea that ordinary citizens might eagerly help identify the culprits received a spectacularly frosty reception on a Charlotte, North Carolina Facebook page discussing the case.
One commenter summed up the mood neatly: “Like anyone will help on this. I think that won’t happen at all. Nice try though.”
Another was even more economical.
“Nope. Figure it out yourself.”
Not exactly the beginnings of a citizen detective squad.
North Carolina commenters are not lining up to snitch
If anything, much of the reaction treated the vandals less like wanted suspects and more like folk heroes armed with a trip to the hardware aisle.
“By criminals you mean heroes right?” one commenter asked. Another simply wrote: “Hero’s. Government over reach.”
Others focused on the irony of sophisticated surveillance equipment apparently needing the public to solve the crime committed against it.
“Isn’t the whole point of thier flock to figure it who did stuff?” one person wrote.
Another joked: “At this point, they’re gonna need cameras to watch the cameras.”
That ridicule lands amid a serious privacy argument surrounding Flock’s technology. The devices automatically scan license plates and are used by law enforcement to develop investigative leads, but scrutiny has grown over how the resulting database can be accessed and used.
WIS reported that more than a dozen officers have been fired or arrested over the past year for allegedly abusing Flock data for personal purposes. Flock has since announced that its default data-retention period will fall from 30 days to seven for new customers.
Irmo resident Gloria Hallman told WIS that damaging taxpayer-funded equipment was the wrong response. Charlotte’s Facebook commenters were rather less conflicted. One suggested authorities should listen to what the vandalism itself was saying: “Maybe the people you work for dont want you spending their money on their surveillance.”
The cameras may be designed to help police find suspects. Convincing the public to help find whoever blinded them could prove rather harder.
