3 Minnesota law enforcement agencies report tampering with Flock cameras
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MINNESOTA (WCCO) — A 42-year-old man is accused of stealing a law enforcement camera that reads license plates in Faribault, Minnesota, and trying to break it, according to a court document filed in Rice County.
According to the criminal complaint, the man from Faribault is charged with one count each of theft, interfering with emergency communications and fourth-degree damage to property.
An individual reported to police on July 27 that someone had stolen a Flock camera, the court document said. The company is contracted by the City of Faribault for automated license plate readers, which police use for investigations, missing persons and other tasks.
The complaint said officers checked the camera located near the intersection of Lyndale Avenue South and Highland Place in Faribault and saw it had been removed.
“The cables that had been attached to the camera appeared to have been cut and were hanging freely,” according to the court document.
Police learned the camera went offline during the morning of July 27, the complaint said. The individual who reported the theft told investigators the man charged had allegedly come to their shop on Seventh Street around midnight on July 26 and was telling them about Flock cameras. At one point, he said, “I think I might take one,” according to the court document.
During the afternoon of July 27, the man came to the individual’s shop on Central Avenue, opened a backpack and told them, “it’s one of those Flock cameras,” the complaint said. The individual said they wanted nothing to do with it.
The man later showed up to one of the individual’s stores, was looking for tools and trying to “tear apart” the camera, according to the court document.
The complaint said officers executed a warrant to search the man’s home. They told him they assumed he knew why they were there.
According to the complaint, the man told police he found a camera in the road “the other night,” that he didn’t know what it was and wasn’t going to keep it. The officers then asked the man to retrieve the camera, which they later saw had black tape over the lens.
While speaking with the man, the complaint said, the officers saw a backpack that “appeared consistent” with the backpack he was wearing in surveillance video of the shop that investigators had previously reviewed.
Both the Flock camera and backpack were seized as evidence, the court document said. The license plate reader had the same serial number as the camera missing from the area of Lyndale Avenue South and Highland Place.
If convicted, the man faces a maximum of over four years in prison and a fine of up to $14,000.
At the same time, law enforcement agencies in other Minnesota communities say they’re seeing an increase in vandals targeting the cameras.
In Winona, police say someone cut down poles and removed all eight Flock cameras, leaving the city’s entire system offline since Saturday. The estimated value of the stolen equipment is roughly $24,000. Investigators are working to learn who is responsible.
Edina officials say the city has experienced four separate incidents involving Flock cameras being damaged.
As of Monday, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office has had one issue with vandalism of a camera, in the City of Nowthen.
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