All eight Winona police Flock cameras cut down and stolen in coordinated theft

All eight Flock license plate reader cameras operated by the Winona Police Department in Minnesota were sawed off their poles and stolen, in what investigators believe was a coordinated theft. According to the department, the cameras were taken on 1 August, and the loss is valued at roughly $24,000.

How the theft was discovered

A patrol officer first noticed that the cameras had not sent any alerts for 24 hours. When officers checked the locations, they found the cameras had been cut from their poles and taken; the poles were left behind. Two additional Flock cameras on the Mississippi River Bridge, owned by Buffalo County, were stolen in the same manner.

What the cameras did

The eight city cameras sat at key highway entry and exit points: near Highway 61 and Bundy Boulevard, Highway 43 and Homer Road, Highway 14 and Knapp Valley Drive, and Highway 61 and Highway 14 — two cameras at each location. Each unit is valued at about $3,000, so the total loss of roughly $24,000 falls directly on the police department's budget. Flock cameras photograph license plates together with a vehicle's make, model and colour. Police use them to investigate crimes such as hit-and-runs and to look for missing persons; the data is owned by the department and deleted after 30 days.

A national pattern of removals

The thefts fit a broader national trend: Flock cameras have been vandalised and cut down in communities across the United States. The technology has drawn criticism from civil liberties advocates, who argue the cameras expand government surveillance and raise concerns about data being shared with third-party companies or federal agencies. No suspects have been identified and the investigation is ongoing. The department asks anyone with information to come forward.