{"id":358163,"date":"2026-07-30T22:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358163\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:57:10","slug":"license-plate-reader-cameras-torn-down-in-cape-coral-prompts-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358163\/","title":{"rendered":"License plate reader cameras torn down in Cape Coral prompts investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>License plate reader cameras torn down in Cape Coral prompts investigation<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com\/news-team\/12557a67-0e1e-4634-8b86-01ee65820479\" aria-label=\"Madison Zaleski profile page\" class=\"css-15eikfp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/12557a67-0e1e-4634-8b86-01ee65820479_1742943240.jpg\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Madison Zaleski\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">On his way to work Thursday morning, Adam Gahrmann spotted that license plate reading cameras had been torn down at the intersection of Diplomat Parkway East and Santa Barbara Boulevard.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">&#8220;I noticed both cameras were completely cut at the bottom of the pole, with the concrete included, and on both sides of the road they were on the ground,&#8221; said Adam Gahrmann. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">A license plate reading camera ended up on the ground. When Gahrmann came across it, he instantly started filming and notified Cape Coral police. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"3\">After taking a closer look at the damage, he says someone did this on purpose.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">&#8220;Because there are other poles around, including light poles. So if somebody is going to purposely try to run them over, they&#8217;re going to cause damage by hitting a light pole as well. Somebody had to exit their vehicle and take the time to take those poles down,&#8221; said Gahrmann. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">Thousands of these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com\/article\/license-plate-reader-camera-track-babcock-ranch\/73236321\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">license plate reading cameras<\/a> are mounted around busy intersections while watching and storing information. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">They&#8217;re automated license plate readers to help police find cars that may be involved in crimes or find a missing person.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen them catch murder suspects, carjacking suspects, stolen vehicles. So they&#8217;re used for great things, but they&#8217;re also being misused out there as well,&#8221; said Gahrmann. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"8\">Police say these cameras have helped solve major crimes, but others say this technology makes them uneasy. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"9\">Neighbors like Arthur Kinslow support them. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">&#8220;A person who is not breaking the law, I don&#8217;t mind police recording me. They can record me up down my street all they want to,&#8221; said Kinslow. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"11\">In the end, Gahrmann says there needs to be more transparency with the public before these license plate reading cameras are put back. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"12\">Cape Coral police say they have gotten reports about this incident and they are actively investigating.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"13\">DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/qrco.de\/gcnapp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.verylocal.com\/wbbh-ft-myers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"License plate reader cameras torn down in Cape Coral prompts investigation CAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 On his way&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[146092,146093,146090,209,211,210,212,146096,146091,28,667,46982,58867,146098,2454,146095,142424,146097,4268,78315,146094,31891],"class_list":["post-358163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-adam-gahrmann","tag-arthur-kinslow","tag-automated-license-readers","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cape-coral-police","tag-carjacking-suspects","tag-diplomat-parkway-east","tag-florida","tag-investigation","tag-license-plate-cameras","tag-license-plate-reader","tag-major-crimes","tag-missing-person","tag-murder-suspects","tag-police-technology","tag-public-transparency","tag-santa-barbara-boulevard","tag-stolen-vehicles","tag-torn-down","tag-traffic-cameras"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358163","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=358163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}