Posted on 08/27/2026 6:44:56 AM PDT by V_TWIN
Oviedo man Evan Meyer got caught destroying a Flock camera.
Only it wasn't a Flock camera at all. It was a decoy!
That's right, the police 3D-printed themselves a fake Flock camera and set it up to catch whatever freedom-loving kook who was stealing all of Big Brother's surveillance gear.
Police said Evan Meyer used pruning shears to cut down the decoy camera before smashing it. Video from the arrest shows officers taking Meyer into custody Thursday night.
According to police, the fake camera was installed as a ‘clone bait camera' after several Flock cameras were stolen between late July and early August.
Meyer is facing three felonies over the destruction of the fake camera: criminal mischief causing more than $1,000 in damage, grand theft involving property valued between $750 and $5,000, and damaging or taking a computer, electronic device, or related equipment.
Of course, he might be able to get out of all those charges if his lawyer can successfully argue that all he destroyed/stole was a cheap printed piece of plastic; there were no actual cameras or electronics involved.
Oviedo's mayor Megan Sladek, who is also a working lawyer, weighed in on the issue:
The whole thing is very interesting from a legal perspective. Mayor is a part-time job here in Oviedo, and I'm an attorney by day, so I'm probably looking at this with a bit different lens than the average person. Even if the guy knew it was a fake camera, that would still make it art, and it would still be vandalism.
Meyer is probably not getting away scot-free.
However, it does sound like the people of Oviedo may be free soon, at least from surveillance.
(Excerpt) Read more at notthebee.com ...
I understand the sentiment but every store has cameras, police cars have license plate readers mounted on patrol cars, neighborhoods have more houses with ring camera networks than without these days.
I guess the point is the time to have pushed back was 25+ years or more ago. The horse has been long gone to worry about closing the barn doors at this point.
Shoulda woulda coulda ... It’s never too late, though.
Florida Man: “I swear I thought it was legal. My Instagram is full of Flock hate”
Flock isn’t just a cam. They have license plate reader capabilities that can track everywhere you go.
For instance, if you drive across town past 10 flock cams the police can see where you went, when, and what route you took to get there.
As I understand, they are also connected to the DMV so all your driving related information is available also.
The problem I’ve been seeing lately is police and other individuals with access to the flock systems have been misusing that access.
I’m not on this guy Meyer’s side. The police camera was what, city property? This guy’s a vandal and has no respect for the law. I’m sick of these creeps that break the law and act like they’re heroes or something.
Flock camera’s have solved crimes. If one doesn’t believe they should be there this is not the way to go.
Entrapment
Are all your cameras’ data collected, stored, and networked all over the US?
Or, just sought out when a crime occured?
Yeah I can see both sides, but I agree, vandalism is vandalism.
I’ve never really looked for ‘em but a quick check shows there are 141 of those things in my county.
TBH, considering how big my county is that’s really not that many.
It’s not just a camera. It performs recognition and if officers don’t review footage, they miss false identifications.
There’s also a nationwide database with info from any camera in the country that picked up that tag (correctly or not).
So it seems like it’s too much like being in a police state.
Should have just used a powerful laser with a rifle scope — burn out any camera from 100 yards.
Spot that, coppers!!
Yes. On balance, I'll take that risk. It has a history:
A peal of alarm bells shattered the brisk yet tranquil Saturday morning in Boston on February 15, 1851. A mob had stormed the local courthouse in an effort to rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from being returned to slavery under the newly strengthened Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.1 Intended to mend the growing North-South divide, the Act required Northern states to assist in the return of slaves to Southern states and ostensibly represented a compromise between the two increasingly hostile halves of America. The mob succeeded, and Minkins was soon well on his way to freedom in Canada. Fearing major public embarrassment as one of the act’s sponsors, U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster ensured those who had stormed the courthouse to free Minkins would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In turn, federal agents quickly arrested and a federal grand jury indicted each of the seven co-conspirators. However, despite the U.S. government’s robust case and the defendants’ obvious guilt—numerous eyewitnesses identified them—no jury would enter a conviction; each time a jury returned unable to reach a unanimous verdict or acquitted the defendants outright.2
In each case, the jurors could not bring themselves to convict someone under an act they felt was immoral. To many, especially those in abolitionist-leaning Boston, the Fugitive Slave Act was morally reprehensible, and the juries’ actions suggest they believed they could decide whether to apply the law, irrespective of facts—a right referred to as jury nullification.
I remember a new story years ago (60 Minutes type show) about a new sheriff in Bacon county Georgia who was eager to work with the feds on busting pot growers. Coordinated with NG for helicopter overflights of farms, etc. Farmers got fed up with it and nominated one of their own for sheriff in the next election and won. I'll never forget the out-going sheriff's comment, 'In this country you can't police the people harder than they want to be policed.'
"Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Without them we have no other fortification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hounds." - John Adams, 1774
In the 1980's, I passed by it almost every day when I was working downtown at 2 Peachtree Street.
Northside Parkway is actually US Highway 41 that the Allman Brothers made famous in their song "Ramblin' Man" (1973)
He's facing three felony charges.
Image the look on his face when his attorney asked for a $20,000 nonrefundable deposit to cover initial legal fees.
I'm just guessing about the size of the deposit. Or he may be saying three possible felony convictions are worth it if several people on social media say, “Great, let's you and him fight!”
Flock cameras and their additional data miners are a far bigger threat to our Freedom.
I believe that they have been using the system exactly as intended. The men of the Secret State Police and the Committee for State Security would have given their left nut for this capability.
The amount of absolutely dumb, idiotic, moronic, ignorant comments on this thread is hilarious. A lot of people have no idea what they are talking about and have no problem making it public knowledge lol.
There! You just did. Feel better snookums?
LOL. I’ll take the advice you offer in your tagline and not argue with you. You can feel free to keep demonstrating your ignorance, though.
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