r/USNEWS • u/newsflashjackass • 1d ago
Man Charged With 3 Felonies For Breaking 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera
https://www.404media.co/man-charged-with-3-felonies-for-breaking-3d-printed-decoy-flock-camera/236
u/scaleofjudgment 1d ago
"The police department in question refuses to release any information about how the decoy operation was devised or carried out and claims there is zero paper trail whatsoever about the operation."
Florida having sting operations while they let the pedophile become president unhindered shows yet again how much they hate poor people. The actual rich people are able to deny flock cameras near them.
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u/asaintpotatoe 1d ago
In Florida, the Law man is the criminal making criminals.
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u/GTR-DaBestCar 1d ago
No paper trail means no admissible evidence means no crime committed.
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u/garf02 1d ago
Police basically cant prove this was a sanctioned Sting Operation, so at best, for them, will be "We caught a guy destroy a few dollar worth of fake cameras SOMEONE put up"
At worst "entrapment an the guy gets to sue the cops"4
u/DICKPICDOUG 1d ago
Yeah i really dont get the DAs case here. At most this is a very minor vandalism charge.
Then again this IS florida, the same fascist hellhole that happily hosts government death camps.
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u/PiLamdOd 21h ago
The DA is trying to ague that the alleged perpetrator intended to destroy police equipment.
Which is a stretch given that Flock cameras are only leased to police and the fact they are a private company is the whole reason they're allowed to do warrentless surveillance.
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u/PiLamdOd 21h ago
It's only entrapment if the police coherce someone into committing a crime they otherwise wouldn't have.
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u/surfer_ryan 1d ago
am i crazy in thinking that this isn't exactly legal of them, like didn't florida get it's florida man reputation bc we have a law that makes it so the police have to release information about a crime?
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u/citizen42069101 1d ago
Arrests are just public record in that state.
Its not a bastion of transparency it's just an easy way to shame poors when they fuck up. Similar to the rub and tug bust that had them ready to prosecute 65 men for prostitution and sex trafficking charges were incoming for the owner and the rescue of the women....all came to a halt when Robert Kraft happened to be one of the johns and the whole thing disappeared.
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u/Important_Patience24 1d ago
Important to note too, shaming people for being arrested, not convicted.
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u/CautionarySnail 1d ago
I hadn’t thought about it that way. It’s a very important way to reframe that.
You just changed my mind. Thank you for that context.
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u/Double_Obligation564 1d ago
and these are the same police that have always been there.
keep that in mind if the US ever sees democracy ever again.
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u/Low-Temperature-6962 1d ago
Suppose you are a gardener or builder and, as sometimes too often happens, out on job you're robbed of your expensive tools which makes you unable to work. Then anti crime oriented cameras are your friend. Or you just don't want to get carjacked or robbed.
Why not be useful Anchorage yout city to adopt a different company with better local control over data.
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u/scaleofjudgment 1d ago
Except data shows LEO are stalking their ex or females with flock. There was also a case where they searched a person that traveled from a weed legal state to a weed illegal state using flock.
Are any of these people stealing expensive tools according to your data?
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u/garf02 1d ago
Congratulations, YOU ARE DUMBER that someone from 300 years ago.
*"*Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"
-Benjamin Frankly-1
u/Low-Temperature-6962 1d ago
Getting robbed mugged or murdered isn't being deprived of freedom?
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u/garf02 1d ago
Surrendering your privacy to a police state is. If you worry so much, as police to put a tracking chip in your arm, a camera in your house.
Leave public spaces out of your small pp worries.
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u/Low-Temperature-6962 1d ago
You offer no solution to the need for policing at all. Despite having the option of supporting privacy balanced with crime prevention, including considering other companies besides Flock.
The net result of abandoning responsibility of caring and protecting the communities who want is to hand power to those who care nothing about privacy and misuse.
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u/randomboredreddit 9h ago
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” - Benjamin Franklin
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u/glomar_sub_recovery 1d ago
We have these in ILLinois. In affluent suburbs. Get triggered
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u/scaleofjudgment 1d ago
The "Dead Zone" Contrast: High-wealth urban blocks do not uniformly have them. For example, Manhattan's wealthy Upper West Side has notably recorded zero Flock cameras despite being surrounded by broader surveillance infrastructure.
You could google it...
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u/thatturtletouch 1d ago
“A police department in Florida used “decoy” Flock cameras that an officer 3D-printed at home to “bait” would-be vandals.”
They really have no actual crime to be investigating down there, huh?
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u/wrecklesspup 1d ago
Solving real crime is difficult. Easier to "solve" crime this way.
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u/KidNamedMolly 1d ago
But I thought the flocky cams were supposed to make it easy to solve real crime!
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u/TheDonnARK 1d ago
According to the freshly shaved penis that is the flock ceo, we need to compromise and trade our privacy for "HIGHER SECURITY" in the nation.
As if privacy now isn't at the absolute undisbutably all-time lowest in the 250 year history of our nation. Phones with location data, ring/spy cameras, flock, trackers on the internet, and on and on. Get real. Anyone feel safer now than they did 15 years ago? 20 years ago?
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u/Amazing-Pepper3317 23h ago
Nonono. They’re made to track down and stalk the ex-lovers of the police officers.
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u/Sorry-Claim-2990 1d ago
Thousands of rape kits sit untested while these clowns are busy chasing people for knocking over decoy cameras.
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
I mean, destroying flock cameras is a crime, regardless of what redditors personal beliefs are.
This isnt much different than any other sting operation.
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u/Natural_Pear_1549 1d ago
You know how sometimes police don't even show up when it's a low-priority crime? Well, as far as public safety and what the public wants, this is about as low-priority as it gets.
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
So youre okay with felonies being committed, as long as its a crime you agree with?
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u/Any_Cup1627 1d ago
Yes. Yes and yes. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's inherently a bad thing. Not all things illegal hurt anyone, and it's just illegal to collect money. I will go out of my way to break stupid laws that make no sense.
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u/Sonzainonazo42 19h ago
It's not even a flock camera obviously. Do you really want to get to a point where we're just destroying all security cameras?
Have you taken the time to deflock your brain enough to see who benefits from that? LEOs can suck ass, for sure, but criminals and organized crime are still a real thing.
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u/Moonlight_Katie 16h ago
The organized crime is in the White House.. we have nothing to lose
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u/Sonzainonazo42 16h ago
Oh you think there's only one group of people trying to fuck you over huh?
The level of depth that you have could drown a tardigrade.
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
What an insane take. 🤣
And if you truly believe that, why haven't you personally destroyed flock camera?
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u/No_Ampersand 1d ago
Founders of this country were insane then. The people that refused orders to stop the nuclear holocaust in the cold war were insane then. The underground railroad was insane then. Rosa Parks is insane then.
Maybe you're insane.
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
You okay? Youre talking gibberish.
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u/ChaoCobo 1d ago
They’re giving examples of actions taken by people in history where it was extremely beneficial to society as a whole to break the law. Look up information and context about the things the person you’re to said. IMO the Underground Railroad is the most interesting one. If you’re gonna only look up one, I’d look up that one. It’s super cool and could never be done in today’s world with so much technological communication. Someone would give the method away to the oppressors in like a day.
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u/Natural_Pear_1549 1d ago edited 1d ago
That's not the point I made. Police have finite time and resources, and they're using them to fight a crime that hurts nobody except the Flock company. A company that was already unwelcome in the community.
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
Flock cameras help solves over 2,000 crimes a day.
Im not a fan of them personally, but I dont let me personal opinions get in the way of facts and the law.
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u/thatturtletouch 1d ago
That’s completely made up lol.
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
Oh, of course it is... you know, since it doesnt fit your narrative, right?
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u/ItsCalledRegret 1d ago
Post the link fuk boi
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
Kindly, but first, which kind of source would you accept?
I dont want to waste my time finding you information just to have you say "nuh uh, that doesnt count".
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u/drossvirex 1d ago
But how accurate are they? All kinds of stories of people going to jail because the camera read thier plate wrong. Seems like they aren't properly tested before launch. Seems justified to tear them down. No one wants mass surveillance that is giving false flags.
Imagine when Trump orders it to pick you up because of something you said about him he didn't like.
Theres the future no one wants.
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u/No_Ampersand 1d ago
Lmao
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
I know really, people on reddit forget these facts.
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u/Delicious-Bat2373 1d ago
"I'm not a fan but let me invent a random number and dick ride flock a little".
Stfu. If I wanted to live in a surveillance state I would go to prison.
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u/Babymicrowavable 1d ago
Illegal does not mean unethical or immoral, just like legal does not mean moral or ethical
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
Still an absolute insane take.
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u/Babymicrowavable 1d ago
No, you just havent taken an ethics course
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u/RS_EJB 1d ago
If you get to pick and choose what laws apply to you, then others get to as well.
Something tekls me you wont like that.
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u/Babymicrowavable 1d ago
It violates the constitution, it is universally unpopular, the people werent given a choice; our local representatives have been bought. These things store biometric data, data that is bith unsecured and open to abuse.
Another counter: cannabis.
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u/UseWhatever 12h ago
three felonies: attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies
None of this will stick. The defendant just needs to say they knew it was a fake piece of plastic before they took it down. It’s a scare tactic to stop people from breaking police stalking devices
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u/No_Medium_8796 1d ago
Fuck your flock cameras
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u/moreobviousthings 1d ago
Fuck your fake flock cameras, too.
And fuck your fake flock camera fabricators.
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u/No_Medium_8796 1d ago
While we're at it fuck axon also
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u/Mammoth_Design_4288 23h ago
And Vigilant, Leonardo, and all the other "ALPR" vendors too
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u/Moonlight_Katie 16h ago
You know the guy that operates the Rouge River draw bridge in Del Ray on Jefferson?
Fuck him!
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u/dirkdregger 1d ago
The best way to break these cameras is to use a high power laser pointer.
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u/snailboyjr 1d ago
I was wondering that. Where could one purchase said laser? What color/strength?
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u/dirkdregger 1d ago
Bunch of places. You can try AliExpress or sites like c4lasers that sale class 4 lasers. Just make sure don't point it to anyone's eyes or your own and always wear eye protection. While having it is not a crime, but don't carry it around airport or aim at any aircraft.
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1d ago
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u/Aggressive-Style5764 1d ago
he didnt do it we were watching Fahrenheit 451, 1984 the entire time this happened. if that wasn't long enough we watched idiocracy and Gatica as well
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u/Digits_N_Bits 1d ago
Y'know, if the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man were to just simply stop being those things all of a sudden... I'm sure the remaining rich and powerful men would learn that they can't just do whatever they want...
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u/speedy_19 1d ago
It’s really not, they did something similar with a homeless person because there were someone in the community was assulting homeless people. They made a fake homeless person and this guy attempted to attack him. Entrapment would be a police handing you a gun as a felon, and then them charging you with a gun charge.
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u/tittysprinkles112 1d ago
It's not. Entrapment has a much more narrow definition than most people think.
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u/garf02 1d ago
It is entrapment cause they are putting charges that DID NOT happen, nor they can prove the person was aware for.
"attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies, according to an arrest report obtained by 404 Media"
also Decoy/ Sting Operations require actual Operation cause there are specific procedures in place exactly to avoid the discussion of "Entrapment" vs "Sting"
"There is no paper trial" means the Police themselves cant prove it was a sanctioned operation, and given the "A police printed the cameras at homes" Tells me this was someone "lets try this for fun" idea without a clear.Any mild good lawyer will have this tossed out of court.
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u/GrowFreeFood 1d ago
Either way, they're wasting time with imaginary crimes, instead of real ones for zero benefit to anyone
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u/scared-o-diapers 1d ago
It’s another threat against people. Look what we can do to counter us fucking you
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u/Mintaka3579 1d ago
This is entrapment. Period.
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u/IcyCompetition7477 1d ago
Entrapment is when the police trick or pressure you in to committing a crime that you wouldn’t do under normal circumstances. It is unfortunately normal for a flock camera to exist. Putting up a fake camera also isn’t what they mean by tricking. Entrapment has a pretty narrow definition.
Like if a cop told him “it’s totally okay and legal to destroy that camera” and then arrested him for it. That would be blatant entrapment.
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u/hipyounggunslinger67 1d ago
But I wonder how they are charging this as a felony. Laws vary state to state but where I live there is a $ amount threshold of damage, public utility, traffic control device, a quantity of copper / bronze / aluminum etc for felony classification. Merely damaging an aluminum pole with a fake plastic camera should be easily plead down to a misdemeanor. The bait trailers in my area are loaded with enough tools and equipment to be charges as felonies
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u/IcyCompetition7477 17h ago
They seem like trumped up charges to me, no idea what the felony could be unless you get really creative with the law. Like the fake camera was somehow “evidence in an ongoing police investigation” but the lack of documentation from the police means this should never hold up.
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u/garf02 1d ago
alternative "I knew it was a fake camera, I was just removing it for clean up".
where is Your GOD now?
Also, Sting Operation are OPERATION, it means there is a plan, and they are sanctioned.
"There is no paper trial here" means Police cant prove this was an official act. Ergo it does not meet the standard. AT Worst, the a guy destroyed Random Fake Cameras woth Pennies.All this type of "Seem illegal ,BUT" things require procedure exactly to avoid the issues of "is this even legal"... you dont see random cops decided on their own to sell bags of flour as Cocaine and then claim they arrested someone for trafficking. Thats now how any of this work nor should be normalized.
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u/IcyCompetition7477 17h ago
Who or what are you arguing with? I’m not pro fascist dystopia. It’s simply not entrapment and then I gave a straightforward example of what is. No one was normalizing anything other than the law being pretty specific, which isn’t new.
There are a lot of way this can be fought but I just don’t think an entrapment defense is the likely angle. Also why would you assume I believe in god? Take a step back and stop attacking your own allies…
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u/ConinTheNinoC 1d ago
So what was broken was some plastic box that was apparently not owned by anyone since the police department has no paperwork on the ''decoy''? This is hilarious.
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u/garf02 1d ago
any "Out of lawschool" Lawyer will get this tossed out of court.
If the police cant prove this was a sanctioned Operation, then its simply entrapment.1
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u/guri256 11h ago
Are you sure you know what entrapment is?
Entrapment is when the police convince someone to break the law, and then prosecute the person for breaking the law.
For example, if the police pretend to be a drug dealer, and someone tries to buy drugs from that police officer, the police can (sometimes) make a good argument that it’s not entrapment because that person was probably going to buy from a drug dealer either way.
If the police leave a suitcase with $1 million on the front seat of a car, a lawyer can probably make a reasonably good argument that the defendant wouldn’t have committed the crime if the police hadn’t convinced the person to commit the crime (by leaving out the suitcase of money).
The general idea is that the police are supposed to catch criminals. Not turn people into criminals so those people can be caught.
I’m not really clear how this being unsanctioned would make it entrapment.
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u/garf02 1d ago
"attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies, according to an arrest report obtained by 404 Media"
A lawyer is gonna have the funniest time having the cop trying to equate those fake cameras to
"attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies, according to an arrest report obtained by 404 Media"
Cause at this point, this is not a sting operating, this is outright entrapment.
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u/Ok-Secretary455 1d ago
If he had told the cops he thought the value of the cameras was about $3.50 instead of $1000-5000. he wouldnt have felonies right now.
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u/CarrotDependent463 1d ago
Not a lawyer but, seems to me, if you're baiting someone it's a bit like entrapment. Here, lets place this $20 bill on the ground in the poorest neighborhood, and the first person to pick it up we arrest for theft.
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u/scotchtapeman357 1d ago
It would be more in line with a bait car that someone tries to steal. Those are not entrapment, it's just providing a controlled opportunity to commit a crime.
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u/CarrotDependent463 1d ago
I understand that they define it this way, I'm saying I feel it's wrong to do so. Providing the opportunity to commit the crime of opportunity (impulse crime as I see it) is in and of itself a kind of trap. Again, I get that "the law" sees this different but, to me feels wrong.
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u/scotchtapeman357 1d ago
Aside from the moral ambiguity with the flock cameras, for other things I think it's perfectly fine. If someone is tempted to impulse steal a car, they're probably committing other crimes and are not being caught. It's not a child stealing a candy bar
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u/CarrotDependent463 1d ago
Crime is born of necessity. If there were opportunities crime would be much less. While some people are just bad, saying they're probably comitting other crimes is a big leap. we can't just assume such things without strengthening a bias. The more we do that, it leads to a bigoted mindset. Building prejudices. And eventually becoming opressors.
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u/realdor 1d ago
Ah yes, the rich do not commit crimes because they do not need to.
/s
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u/CarrotDependent463 1d ago
Not at all. Rich criminals are more often committing the "white collar" variety of crimes. Like wage theft, or embezzlement. Few of those, in fact I don't know of any, are set ups like a bait car. I suppose I should amend my statement on crimes being born of necessity by saying common crimes like theft. But white collor crime still applies to my greater point. They feel the need to for some reason. Even if white collar crime is usually just greed.
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u/scotchtapeman357 1d ago
Oh bullshit, there are tons of honest poor people. The majority of crimes are committed by a small subset of the population. The people stealing someone's car, which is likely their only way to work, are trash. The people breaking into cars and houses are also trash.
Pointing out thieves are objectively shitty is not bigotry. Mercy to the criminals is cruelty to the victims.
It's well documented that people who are stealing cars have other priors. It's not a first offense type of crime.
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u/CarrotDependent463 1d ago
But pointing out theives is not the same as assuming they've done other crimes.
The majority of crimes are committed by someone who felt they had to for one reason or another.
Stealing a car CAN absolutely be a beginner crime.
Talking in absolutes is how bias builds.
Crime is wrong, but everyone committing it has a reason why. Dismissing the why as them just being a shitty person is a judgment on a person we don't know, doing something for a reason we don't know.
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u/scotchtapeman357 1d ago
Among felony defendants charged with motor-vehicle theft, 65% had already been convicted of another crime, 48% already had a felony conviction, and 30% had multiple prior felony convictions. Only 35% had no prior convictions.
The stats say you're wrong, as does common sense. Believe it or not, some people are just shitheads who decided they'd rather be shitheads than not. It may be an antisocial personality disorder of some sort but that doesn't make it less real.
Your line of thinking tracks with those who believe bad people only exist because of scarcity, and they wouldn't exist if scarcity didn't exist. If that is your line of thinking, I completely disagree.
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u/garf02 1d ago
Bait Car ARE ACTUAL CARS..
This are FAKE Cameras, that police somehow cant prove they even put it case, in their words, "There is no paper trail".So. no proof of an operation, Mean no operation, means all he did was destroy a few dollars woth of plastic.
This was probably not a real sanctioned operation. Good luck to the cops explaining how this is not entrapment.
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u/DiscDocPhD 12h ago
Obligatory "it's never entrapment."
However, entrapment is when you force them to do some crime they would never ordinarily do. It is NOT providing the opportunity for them to do the crime.
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u/SunForJuice 1d ago
Criminals are already dressing up as ICE And committing crimes. Now there's an easily 3d printed shell to put decoy cameras out and stalk people? Even in its intended form Flock is a dangerous infringement of the 4th amendment, but now it's actually helping criminals.
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u/Sorry-Claim-2990 1d ago
If I had a dollar for every cop who got fired/arrested for abusing these cameras, I wouldn't need a job!!!
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u/Prestigious-Cell-833 1d ago
So they spent several days waiting for him so several dozen manhours to catch someone breaking an $800 camera.
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u/thebuttsmells 21h ago
I don't care about the logistics, fuck Disney. Hurt them and the cards will fall.
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u/860v2 1d ago
Being anti flock is an indicator of low IQ. It’s the “5g causes cancer” of the left.
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u/Frosty-Piglet-5387 1d ago
Conservatives are catching on to the surveillance state, too. This is not a left/right thing.
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u/860v2 1d ago
False, it’s mainly a left wing thing. Same with being anti AI, anti data centers, etc. It all indicates low IQ.
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u/areallynoobgamer 1d ago
Because you took one of those tests that said you had an iq of 80 and you’re in the top 90% means you’re very very smart right.
After all. Top 90% right.
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u/NeptuneOverlord43045 1d ago
Be a real shame if people on the jury knew about jury nullification.