Orange paint splashed across Joplin Flock camera amid privacy debate
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A Flock camera at 20th and Maiden Lane appears to have been sprayed with orange paint as controversy surrounding the surveillance technology grows locally and nationwide.
A photo taken at the busy Joplin intersection shows orange paint splashed across portions of the camera system and its solar panel.
It was not immediately clear when the damage occurred, whether the camera remains operational or whether Joplin Police are investigating.
The act comes as Joplin Police Chief Richard Pearson continues to defend the city’s use of Flock cameras despite a former officer being accused of improperly using law enforcement databases.
Pearson has argued that individual officers should be held accountable for misuse rather than abandoning technology that police say has helped locate suspects and missing people.
Pearson previously told Newstalk KZRG that eliminating the system because of misconduct by one officer would be a “knee jerk reaction.”
Joplin Police added monthly audits and other safeguards following the incident.
An NPR review found Flock cameras have been vandalized in at least 36 states, with cameras painted over, covered with stickers, cut down, stolen or otherwise damaged as opposition to automated license plate readers has intensified.
Joplin police had not publicly confirmed the apparent vandalism as of late Monday.
