Man Arrested Stealing Flock Cameras | What Happened? #shorts
The short version: A man filmed himself yanking Flock ALPR cameras and calling it 'returning' them to the manufacturer, only to be arrested by Bernalillo County deputies, as covered by The Collective Minds Podcast.
Our Take
Credit to The Collective Minds Podcast for catching this one: a guy in Bernalillo County decided the best way to protest Flock Safety's camera network was to physically remove the hardware and film himself doing it, joking that he was just 'returning' the units. Deputies didn't share the joke, and he got arrested. It's a stunt, not a strategy, and it's a reminder that vigilante theft or vandalism is a fast way to end up with a criminal record while the surveillance network itself stays intact and gets rebuilt with a bigger budget line for 'security upgrades.'
We get the impulse. These cameras are bolted onto public roads without a public vote, feeding plate scans into databases that cops, federal agencies, and sometimes private actors can query with little oversight. People are frustrated because the normal channels — city council meetings, public records requests — move slowly while the camera count keeps climbing. But destroying or stealing a camera doesn't delete the data pipeline behind it, and it hands prosecutors an easy case that distracts from the actual policy fight over whether this surveillance should exist at all.
If you want to do something that actually sticks, start by finding out where these cameras are near you on our camera map, then use the organizing and public-comment tools on our take-action page to push for transparency, audits, or outright removal through the front door — not the felony door.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Collective Minds Podcast, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.