c/technology · by FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works · 24d

Winona police want to know who stole their Flock surveillance cameras

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/08/05/winona-police-stolen-flock-surveillance-cameras

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/68943011

197 points · 48 comments · view on lemmy.world

48 Comments

floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 75 pts · 24d

Must've been the wind

hbro@lemmy.obscuro.be · 59 pts · 24d (6 replies)

The irony of tracking cameras not having trackers inside them.

LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 24d (2 replies)

I imagine they are in the nearest trash bin, but who knows.

(The broken cameras, no idea if they have trackers).

"Sir it appears they cut it down, the next people came by and moved it off the sidewalk, the next people couldn't mow the lawn with it in the way so they through it off to the side, and the building owner had someone move it off his property by having someone put it in the trash so it didn't look like shit"

Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org · 5 pts · 24d

"Sir it appears they cut it down

You mean, somebody cut it down?

Naaah... surely it was just the wind that moved this chainsaw.

Salvo@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 24d

IIRC they are common SBCs and components. They can be broken down and components resold.

OwOarchist@pawb.social · 12 pts · 24d (2 replies)

They do have GPS trackers inside, but those can be defeated by putting them in a metal container, underwater, or underground. Or they might be disabled if the camera is destroyed and unpowered.

RobotToaster@mander.xyz · 11 pts · 24d

Even just wrapping them in tinfoil should work.

echodot@feddit.uk · -1 pts · 23d

I don't immigration they are still fully assembled.

drahardja@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 24d (2 replies)

If I saw someone sawing down a Flock camera, I probably didn’t see anyone.

echodot@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 23d

If I lived in the US I'd just go around in blacked out sunglasses the whole time because there's so many things that you better not see.

cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 23d

I'd give a silent nod and carry on

ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 35 pts · 24d (4 replies)

Flocky

Dryad@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 24d (3 replies)

They also have a decent amount of RAM inside.

harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 15 pts · 23d

They should have led with that.

village604@adultswim.fan · 1 pts · 23d (1 reply)

2gb of ddr3 is decent?

Sxan@piefed.zip · 2 pts · 23d

Well, it's 16GB total, which would be pretty good for a Pi or two.

Dryad@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 24d

They actually don’t own the cameras though. They rent them for $3,500 annually.

cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de · 29 pts · 24d (1 reply)

Hopefully the solar panels are being used for something useful now like charging some homeless person's phone.

echodot@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 23d

Ship them outside the US and then someone can use them as webcams

boobookittyfrick@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 24d

Nfamwap@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 24d (3 replies)

Yo dawg, I think you need some cameras to monitor your cameras

Flower@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 24d (1 reply)

Yeah, aren't these things there to prevent vandalism?

lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 24d

They are to prevent freedoms. Nothing to do with vandalism

jaybone@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 24d

PICTURE IN PICTURE DAWG

Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org · 14 pts · 24d (3 replies)

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization, destabilization, division, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a saboteur. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identities because of the consequences of their actions and to avoid invoking legal and organizational requirements for addressing sabotage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage

HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 24d (2 replies)

Amazing song, everyone should hear it

HangingFruit@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 24d (1 reply)

I can’t stand it

humancrayon@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 24d

I know you planned it

njordomir@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 24d (3 replies)

I imagine there are also some low level cops relieved to see them gone but don't want to say so publicly. After all, AI is coming for their jobs too. Pretty soon buying a state patrolman a Honda Goldwing to patrol the highway will be an impossible sell when we could just strap a few more cameras to a pole or fly a drone. Everyone but the bootlickiest of the bootlickers will eventually hit their breaking point with this increasing public surveillance, just not until it goes poorly for them personally.

ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 23d

If they were capable of thinking that holistically and with foresight, they would not be allowed to be hired as cops.

CADmonkey@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 23d

I waa trying and probably failing to explain to someone that no matter who you are or what you believe, one day the fascists will demand of you something you don't want to do.

Even if you're a cop.

impairedimperator@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 23d

Nah, those cameras aren't coming for their jobs at all. Ultimately, the cops will always need bodies holding riot shields and shooting civilians.

BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 23d

Sounds like something a Flock camera could solve... upp, awwwwww. 😭

GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 23d

it was ICE. now go arrest them.

muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 23d

Wait, the cameras couldn’t tell you that?

Must not have been very effective.

chode_tode@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 24d

It was those damn pesky KIDS. DAMN KIDS.