JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Vandalism targeting automated license plate readers has ignited a local debate over public safety and digital surveillance in the Beaches communities, echoing growing privacy concerns felt across the nation. <\/p>\n
The investigation began on June 29 when an Atlantic Beach police officer noticed several Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras, commonly known as \u201cFlock\u201d cameras, had not been working. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n A physical inspection revealed that multiple camera lenses across the area had been intentionally disabled with spray paint. Similar incidents of vandalism happened in Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach. <\/p>\n Police have since arrested 19-year-old River Blair of Jacksonville Beach in connection with the damage. According to investigators, detectives reviewing nearby surveillance footage observed a red Mazda hatchback pulling into a parking lot shortly after midnight. The video reportedly showed a male suspect carrying a ladder toward one of the camera poles before driving away a short time later. <\/p>\n In a twist of digital irony, investigators used data from surrounding, operational Flock cameras to track the movements of the suspect\u2019s vehicle just before those units were also spray-painted. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Flock cameras automatically photograph passing vehicles, capturing and indexing highly specific details including the vehicle\u2019s make, model, color, and license plate number. This data is stored in a centralized database for 30 days and can be accessed by law enforcement agencies nationwide to track stolen vehicles, missing persons, or suspects. <\/p>\n The rapid expansion of this technology has drawn a mixed reaction from residents in the Beaches communities. <\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even know they existed,\u201d said local resident Bryce Thompson, though he noted the technology\u2019s potential benefits. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good things that they could do, such as tracking down criminals.\u201d <\/p>\n Others view the pervasive network of readers with skepticism. \u201cThey\u2019re everywhere,\u201d said local Mikael Hernandez. <\/p>\n Resident Caroline Hoeloe expressed a sentiment shared by civil liberties advocates nationwide. \u201cI feel like they\u2019re a little bit of an invasion of privacy,\u201d Hoeloe said. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n We reached out to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department for comment on the incident, but they declined, as the investigation is ongoing. <\/p>\n We also reached out to the Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach Police Departments, but have not heard back.<\/p>\n The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office also utilizes the technology. JSO said they have access to over 150 Flock cameras that have helped them solve crimes. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not arbitrarily just looking at cars and saying, \u2018Oh, we should look into that car.\u2019 It\u2019s based on what we\u2019re working investigatively. It\u2019s an investigative tool,\u201d said Mark Romano, Director of Patrol and Enforcement at JSO.<\/p>\n Blair currently faces charges related to the vandalism of public property. <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Vandalism targeting automated license plate readers has ignited a local debate over public safety and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,643,11812,6104,25202,145971,969,116,118,117,5729,6458,6489,1872,634,127216,18591],"class_list":["post-357712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-action_news_jack","tag-atlantic_beach","tag-beaches","tag-blair","tag-isaiah_blair","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville_beach","tag-jacksonville_sheriffs_office","tag-jessica_salinas","tag-jso","tag-local","tag-mazda","tag-neptune_beach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}