Non functioning Flock camera cut down by not so smart criminal

Someone has cut down a Flock license plate reader camera mounted along East Johnson Street in Fond du Lac, despite the fact the camera hasn’t been operational for some time.

The camera was located along the westbound lanes in front of Festival Foods.

Police Chief Aaron Goldstein says an officer noticed the pole had been cut down, and a criminal damage to property report was completed. There are currently no known suspects.

Here’s the interesting part however, the camera wasn’t even working.

The city and county previously discontinued their agreements with Flock, following concerns about the company’s technology and how information collected by the cameras was being used and shared.

Goldstein says the stationary license plate cameras in Fond du Lac have been disabled for some time. The city’s transparency portal, which remains available on its website, shows zero vehicles detected and zero searches conducted with the camera.

The cameras had remained physically attached to the poles, with their lenses covered, while the city and county waited for the vendor to remove them.

Goldstein says the vendor has been contacted and should be taking care of the removal, although there’s no timeline for when that will happen.

So, whoever cut down the camera could potentially face a criminal damage to property charge for damaging equipment that wasn’t even operational.

But, nobody ever said criminals were smart.