Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley is desperately trying to stop his mass surveillance startup from turning into one of the most hated companies in the United States.
As vigilantes continue to tear down its fleet of cameras and find creative new ways to obstruct them, Langley attempted to reason with Flock’s critics, calling for a “compromise” last week.
Yet the negative press keeps piling up, which could greatly undermine the embattled CEO’s uninspired de-escalation efforts. As 404 Media reports, a man has now been charged with three felonies after he cut down a 3D-printed “decoy” Flock camera, which was set up by a police department in Florida to “bait” vandals.
It’s a striking new approach to fight back against the wave of vandalism, highlighting a fierce battle between law enforcement departments that’ve signed contracts with Flock and citizens unwilling to be under constant surveillance by the company’s many thousands of license plate-reading cameras.
According to an arrest report obtained by 404 Media, Ovideo, Florida, resident Evan Meyer was charged with attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies.”
“Several of our Flock Safety cameras were stolen between 7/23/2026 -8/3/2026 out of the Lockwood Blvd. corridor and we replaced them with clone style Flock cameras,” the report reads. “These Flock ‘bait’ cameras were made to closely resemble that of real Flock cameras but did not cost the same amount nor collect any data within the device.”
“Meyer grabbed his father’s pruning shears from the garage, walked down the street (south from his house) and was tall enough to cut the mount off and then smashed the camera on the ground,” the report continues.
Despite the 3D-printed decoy only being worth a couple of dollars at most, Meyer was hit with the full amount of the actual cost to replace a real camera, making his arrest even more controversial.
Beyond the report, details remain extremely sparse about the police department’s “decoy” ruse. There’s also dissent in the local government: Oviedo mayor Megan Sladek said she was “speechless,” arguing in a Facebook post that while “VANDALISM IS WRONG,” a “majority of COUNCIL AGREED TO CONSIDER ENDING FLOCK” mere days before the incident.
“While it is irrelevant to the issue of vandalism, when the fake cameras were fabricated and installed relative to a very public discussion about their potential discontinuation is something I would like to know as we head into our August 31 work session on this topic,” she wrote.
It remains to be seen how the case will play out. But considering a grand jury in Ohio declined to bring felony charges against a man accused of destroying a Flock camera earlier this month — perhaps the clearest sign yet of the country’s overwhelming hatred for the surveillance gadgets — it could be an interesting one.
More on Flock: Embattled Flock CEO Begs for “Compromise” As Backlash Spills Over
The post Police Are Putting Up Fake 3D-Printed Flock Cameras and Swooping In to Arrest People Who Vandalize Them appeared first on Futurism.
