All eight automated license-plate reader cameras operated by police in Winona, Minnesota, were cut from their mounts and stolen, according to a local news report citing the Winona Police Department. Investigators believe the August 1 removals were coordinated.
The outage first drew attention when a patrol officer noticed the network had produced no alerts for 24 hours. Officers sent to inspect the installations found that the cameras were gone and the supporting poles remained. No suspect had been identified, and the investigation was continuing as of the event date.
The department had installed two cameras at each of four points near major roads entering and leaving the city. The locations were around Highway 61 and Bundy Boulevard, Highway 43 and Homer Road, Highway 14 and Knapp Valley Drive, and the intersection of Highways 61 and 14.
Two other Flock cameras on the Mississippi River Bridge were stolen through the same method. Those units belonged to Buffalo County rather than the Winona department. The reported financial loss for Winona’s eight devices was about $24,000, based on an estimated value of $3,000 per camera. The replacement cost would come from the police department’s budget.
Flock Safety’s roadside devices automatically photograph license plates and record vehicle characteristics including make, model and color. Winona police use that information in investigations such as hit-and-run cases and in efforts to locate missing people. The department owns the data produced by its cameras, and the local report said records are permanently deleted after 30 days.
The theft interrupted a tool that police positioned specifically around highway access points, removing the entire municipal network at once rather than disabling a single location. The additional loss of the two bridge cameras also indicates that the operation extended beyond equipment owned by one agency. Investigators’ description of a coordinated theft reflects the similar removal method and timing; it does not identify who carried it out or establish a motive.
License-plate reader systems have also generated a wider public debate. Civil-liberties advocates have criticized the surveillance reach of such networks and raised questions about whether information can be shared with private companies or federal agencies. Separately, Flock cameras have been vandalized or cut down in communities elsewhere in the United States. Those disputes provide context for the technology but do not establish a connection to the Winona thefts.
Authorities asked anyone with information to contact the Winona Police Department. Until investigators identify suspects or explain a motive, the central facts remain the physical removal of the ten regional cameras, including all eight units in Winona’s own system.
