Nicholas Quimby said the Winona Flocke camera theft left all eight license plate readers used by the Winona Police Department missing sometime between July 29 and Aug. 1. The loss hit every device the department had placed at four highway locations, where two Flock cameras had been set at each point.
By Aug. 4, Quimby said the case was still open and that two motives were possible: philosophical opposition and an attempt to sell the components. He said, "philosophical opposition and an attempt to sell the components were both motives," a view that fits a broader run of damaged and missing Flock equipment in Minnesota communities.
Winona highway sites
Police found the mounting poles cut near the base and discarded in nearby weeds when they checked the four locations. That left the department with a full replacement bill of about $24,000, based on an estimated $3,000 for each unit and pole.
The theft was discovered after one officer noticed the system had not recorded any recent activity. With all eight readers gone, the department lost coverage at each of the entry and exit points where the cameras had been installed along highways entering and leaving Winona.
Flock devices in Minnesota
The Winona theft came after other incidents involving Flock devices in Minnesota. In Duluth, at least five devices were stolen and another was damaged during June and July. In Plymouth, one device was found in pieces beneath its pole and another had its power cord cut.
Similar incidents were also reported in Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and Anoka County. In Faribault, a 42-year-old man was charged after he allegedly removed a reader from a 10-foot pole and brought it to a local shop; police later recovered the equipment from his garage with black tape covering its lens.
Winona Police Department case
That pattern has put the Winona Police Department case into a wider context without changing the basic question at hand: who took the eight cameras, and whether the thefts were tied to the broader anti-surveillance movement. Quimby said police had not connected the Winona thefts to that movement, even as he pointed to both political opposition and resale as possible motives.
For Winona, the immediate issue is straightforward. The department must replace every reader and pole before it can restore the network at the city’s four highway sites, and the missing equipment already carries a price tag the department put at $24,000.
