A police department in Florida used “decoy” Flock cameras that an officer 3D-printed at home to “bait” would-be vandals.
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officer → use → vandals
Police officers monitored the fake cameras for days, then charged a man with three felonies after he cut down and destroyed one of the plastic devices.
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he → monitor → devices
The police department in question refuses to release any information about how the decoy operation was devised or carried out and claims there is zero paper trail whatsoever about the operation.
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operation → refuse → operation
Oviedo, Florida mayor Megan Sladek said she “had NO idea” that this was happening and said she was “speechless” over the sting operation, which was first reported by News 6 Orlando.
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which → say → Orlando
The arrest shows that police have escalated their attempts to catch potential Flock vandals, and that some departments have dedicated significant resources into doing so.
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departments → show → resources
Sladek told 404 Media that the 3D-printed camera in question was “free.”
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camera → tell → question
Despite the decoy camera being worth, at most, several dollars worth of plastic filament, Evan Meyer was charged with three felonies: attempted larceny/grand theft, criminal mischief of property damage worth more than $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment supplies, according to an arrest report obtained by 404 Media.
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Meyer → charge → Media
The arrest report states that the operation was devised after several Flock cameras in Oviedo were stolen in late July and early August.
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cameras → state → July
“Several of our Flock Safety cameras were stolen between 7/23/2026 -8/3/2026 out of the Lockwood Blvd. corridor and we replaced them with clone style Flock cameras.
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we → steal → cameras
These Flock ‘bait’ cameras were made to closely resemble that of real Flock cameras but did not cost the same amount nor collect any data within the device,” the arrest report states.
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report → make → device
Meyer was arrested shortly after midnight Thursday after knocking the 3D-printed fake camera off a pole with a pair of garden shears and destroying it.
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Meyer → arrest → it
“When asked how much he believes the camera costs to replace, he stated approximately $1,000-$5,000 proving that Meyer knew it was an expensive real piece of equipment and not a fake replica,” the police report states.
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report → ask → equipment
“The actual cost to replace our Flock camera is valued at $800.00 plus any installation fees.
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cost → replace → 800.00
Meyer advised he has been hearing all the negative things online about the misuses of Flock cameras (specifically the CEO of Flock Safety) and decided to knock the one down which was closest to his house.
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which → advise → house
Meyer grabbed his father's pruning shears from the garage, walked down the street (south from his house) and was tall enough to cut the mount off and then smashed the camera on the ground.”
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Meyer → grab → ground
The arrest report implies that because Meyer thought that Flock cameras were expensive and because he didn’t know it was a decoy that he could be charged with attempted grand theft and other charges that carry more consequences.
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that → imply → consequences
The operation is reminiscent of Amazon “package sting” operations that several police departments attempted several years ago, in which empty Amazon boxes were placed on people’s porches while police officers watched.
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officers → attempt → porches
Those sting operations resulted in zero known arrests.
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operations → result → arrests
The Oviedo Police Department has thus far refused to release almost any information about the operation outside of what was said in the police report, and has repeatedly claimed to 404 Media that public records about how the fake camera were made do not have to be released because they have to do with an ongoing criminal investigation.
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they → refuse → investigation
The department first claimed that it has zero public records whatsoever about the fake device from before the arrest, then claimed that any and all records are exempt from release.
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records → claim → release
A representative for the Oviedo Police Department told 404 Media that “The decoy FLOCK camera was produced by an officer at their home using their personally owned 3D printer and donated to the agency Our agency does not own a 3D printer therefore does not have design, planning and creation of the alleged decoy or replica cameras before the arrest, including the communications and presentations through which that work was discussed.”
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work → tell → which
It said there are “no meeting minutes, no text messages, and no emails regarding the production of a decoy FLOCK camera prior to the arrest on 8/20/2026.”
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It → say → 8/20/2026
Mayor Sladek posted on Facebook that she was “speechless” over the operation, and that “transparency is so important.”
"
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transparency → post → operation
My 2 cents: there are 2 completely separate issues in play here, and they're tangled up in an unfortunate way.
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they → be → way
I don't care if it's a Flock camera, a piece of art, or graffiti in a public space, it's not right.
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it → care → space
The police caught a person who engaged in destroying public property, and that's what we hired them to do.
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we → catch → them
They did their job,” she wrote.
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she → do → job
“ISSUE 2: on Monday, just days before this incident, a majority of COUNCIL AGREED TO CONSIDER ENDING FLOCK.
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majority → agree → FLOCK
There is a timeline of events related to installing decoy cameras, and somewhere in that timeline, City Council instructed staff to prepare a resolution to end the use of Flock in Oviedo.
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Council → be → Oviedo
While it is irrelevant to the issue of vandalism, when the fake cameras were fabricated and installed relative to a very public discussion about their potential discontinuation is something I would like to know.”
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I → fabricate → discontinuation
In an email to 404 Media, Sladek said that “the whole thing is very interesting from a legal perspective.
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thing → say → perspective
Mayor is a part-time job here in Oviedo, and I'm an attorney by day, so I'm probably looking at this with a bit different lens than the average person.
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I → look → person
Even if the guy knew it was a fake camera, that would still make it art, and it would still be vandalism.”
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it → know → ?
“I became aware of the camera's existence when I heard about it from a resident who saw it on the news, and shortly after that, my first questions were about the cost and process,” she added.
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she → become → cost
“Can't do much better than free, and the effort did result in someone hopping up a pole and attempting to take it down.
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someone → do → it
What is not known is whether the person who removed the first camera at that location is the same as the person who removed the decoy.
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who → know → decoy
It would be interesting to know if the one arrested has any prior criminal history or if this was a first offense.
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this → know → history
How to charge is up to the state's attorney, but you'll see on the police report when it arrives that the person arrested believed that he was damaging property valued at a much greater price point than the actual value was.
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value → charge → point
In a Facebook comment, Sladek posted several responses to questions that Oviedo police chief Dale Coleman gave her.
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Coleman → post → her
Coleman said that he approved the plan, and that “supervisors have latitude how they go about solving a crime operations [sic] like this are done whenever there is a reasonable chance of success.
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operations → say → success
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
