Flock Safety Cameras Vandalized in Oakland and Nationwide

0:00Oakland drivers of spotting flock safety cameras getting hit with paint jobs lately. These automated license plate readers are popping up on polls citywide after the council renewed a two-year deal worth $2,250,000. That keeps nearly 300 cameras running, plus adds 40 new ones that stream live video to police. Vandals seem to be targeting the lenses to blind them. One on Fruitvale Avenue got splatter purple, another at West MacArthur, and Martin Luther King Jr. Way looks the same. Folks on next door in Temescal share pics of a gray painted one too. Oakland police say they're on it and investigating the damage. This isn't just local paint attacks, and cut down cameras are hitting flockier nationwide. In Virginia, cops nab the guy for wrecking 13 of them. Oregon saw polls chopped in Springfield in Eugene, with notes calling out surveillance. San Diego, Illinois, and Connecticut report similar hits. People are pushing back against the tech because flock shares play data across cities and agencies helping bus crimes but sparking privacy fears.

1:05Sites like D-Flock map almost 90,000 cameras online. The CEO called those map makers a terror group. Police probes continue here and elsewhere, while flock stays quiet on Oakland questions. As these cameras multiply, the clash over watching our streets heats up. From your city, powered by AI, this is California News Today.