PORT ORANGE, Fla. \u2013 A series of Flock license plate reader cameras have been vandalized across Central Florida in recent weeks, with incidents reported in Volusia and Lake counties as debate continues over the use of the surveillance technology.<\/p>\n
The latest incident happened Tuesday in Port Orange, where a Flock camera was found cut down along Taylor Road.<\/p>\n
Roberto Sabatino said he noticed the damaged camera while driving Tuesday morning and recorded a video that has since gone viral on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I had about 50 followers,\u201d Sabatino said. \u201cSince then, now I have 2,000 followers, and it\u2019s up to 980,000 views.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video shows the camera lying in the grass near the roadway while a Port Orange police officer was at the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pole is very recognizable if you pay attention to Flock at all,\u201d Sabatino said. \u201cIt has that solar panel on it, so when I drove past, I was like, \u2018Oh, someone cut a Flock down,\u2019 because I know Flocks have been getting cut down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Port Orange incident is one of several recent cases involving damaged license plate readers in Central Florida.<\/p>\n
According to a Volusia Sheriff\u2019s Office report, deputies responded July 20 to Bill Keller Park in DeBary after receiving a report that a Flock camera had been damaged. Investigators found the black camera and its pole lying on the ground. The criminal mischief report does not list any arrests.<\/p>\n
Two days later, on July 22, sheriff\u2019s dispatch records show deputies responded after a license plate reader in Osteen went offline. Investigators found the camera destroyed, with pieces scattered on the ground. Deputies reported the damage appeared to have been caused by a blunt object.<\/p>\n
More recently, on July 31, the Clermont Police Department responded to reports of vandalized Flock cameras in the Ivey Ridge subdivision. Police said two camera poles had been intentionally cut in half, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage to the system.<\/p>\n
The recent incidents come as Flock cameras continue to generate debate among residents. Supporters argue the automated license plate readers help law enforcement solve crimes and locate stolen vehicles, while critics say the technology raises privacy concerns.<\/p>\n
Sabatino said opinions on his viral social media post reflect that divide.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the most part, most of the people that are commenting are against Flock cameras,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a few people that are for it. Everyone has their own point of view when it comes to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
News 6 reached out to the Port Orange Police Department for information about Tuesday\u2019s incident, including whether any suspects have been identified, but had not received a response as of publication. The investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ORANGE, Fla. \u2013 A series of Flock license plate reader cameras have been vandalized across Central Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12840,265,28,30,29,2174,6260,4443,2261],"class_list":["post-364953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-community-concerns","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-lake-county","tag-port-orange","tag-tech","tag-volusia-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364953","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=364953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}