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Flock camera smasher identified by the Flock camera [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2026-03-03  

A man who smashed several license plate surveillance cameras in Waterford Township, a suburb of Detroit, was identified after one of them captured a photo of his own license plate. Spencer Anderson, 24, faces three charges of felony destruction of police property. Police also want "restitution" for the cost of their surveillance cameras.

Police noticed on Feb. 23 that several of the plate readers were offline and found that they had been removed from their mounts and broken. But the data identified the smasher's plate, and video from a nearby business's security camera showed a person "using an object to smash the readers."

Here's Police Chief Scott Underwood, in a press release: "Spencer Anderson and others are entitled to their opinions regarding technological advancements in policing. However, no one is entitled to maliciously destroy property of another, including that of the Waterford Police Department."

The expansion of surveillance systems is controversial: especially the Ring and Flock surveillance networks. Flock was used by cops in Texas to track down a woman seeking an abortion out of the state. Ferndale, half an hour down the road from Waterford, just canceled its contract with Flock after a local backlash.

Though the vendor in Waterford isn't mentioned in the news reportage, it's Flock. Waterford recently expanded a multi-year contract with Flock for ALPR cameras despite universal opposition from members of the public speaking at the township board meeting and in writing. Anderson was not among those speaking or writing letters.

In 2022, after the town first contracted with Flock, Underwood claimed that having the cameras would reduce crime by "up to 70%." According to stats compiled by city-data.com, the crime index in Waterford, population nearly 71,000, has since risen from 114.3 to 128.5. There were increases in rapes, assault, burglaries, and auto thefts. Since Underwood was hired in 2016, the town has seen crime rise by a third.

Despite the public opposition, Underwood told the township board that these "crime trends demand urgent solutions"—more Flock cameras and three of its drones—and claimed that Flock's "effectiveness" has been "firmly established."

"Each new tool exponentially increases our value in the fight against local and transient criminal elements," he wrote.

The police obsession with questionable technological toys is well established, as is new technology's poor track record of providing results. Beyond the heavily-political surveillance camera controversy, Shotspotter is a good example: it seems like it should work, and the data it generates looks like it working, but researchers found it provides "no reductions in serious violent crimes." Whatever it does, it's of no clear value, yet bought at high cost to taxpayers.

Anderson is due back in court on March 11, and out in the meantime after posting a $500 cash bond.

Previously: Surveillance startups feast on America's bloated police budgets

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