Livingston County removes Flock Cameras after vandalism

As concerns over flock cameras continue to grow, one Michigan county has made the decision to remove them after several of their flock cameras were vandalized. Let's get live to Fox 2's Jamie Sherrod. She's live outside in Livingston County with a look at why they decided to do this. Jamie. Rube, six flock cameras were damaged here in Livingston County, costing around $5,000. As a result, the sheriff removed about 25 of them. Although it's welcome news to those who do not agree with the flock cameras, this isn't a permanent decision. I do not like them. I don't like people peeping in on my private life, period. I don't care who they are or what their purpose is. My life is my business, period. I think it's good because then they get to get the criminals a lot better with the ID and stuff. Seems like they're definitely against them, really, and you can't blame them. They don't need to know everything. We do deserve some privacy, too. Were you happy to see it being taken down? Yeah. We don't need them. Yeah, the sheriff, though, not happy about those damaged cameras. He says some of them were cut from their brackets. Others were beaten up and smashed in. He does understand the public's concern when it comes to these cameras, but he says these have been a super helpful tool to solving some serious crimes here. We are tasked with keeping the public safe. We are tasked with doing investigations, but yet they don't want to give us the tools. Some folks, not everybody, of course, don't want to let us have the tools that we can use to do it, and this has been a investigative tool. We will be putting them back up, so it was just a temporary pause. We're looking at the locations, first of all. We're looking at what we can do to make those more vandalism-proof, if you will, and what makes sense in that arena. The sheriff emphasizing the purpose of these slot cameras are not to spy on and track people, but once again to solve crimes in the community. He does say his goal is to catch whoever's responsible for damaging those slot cameras and make an example out of them. Reporting live in Livingston County, Jamie Sherrod, Fox 2 News. Yeah, I mean, Jamie, this comes on the same week where we hear Monroe County is essentially saying we don't want slot cameras anymore, so certainly there is some controversy around this technique. Absolutely, Rupe, you have people who are in support of this being a tool for our police and sheriff's departments to use to help solve those crimes, but we heard from a lot of people today who are worried about what the sheriff calls misconceptions about the use of them, how they're being used by the department. Some departments we've heard in other states like Florida misusing them, but the sheriff did say that if anyone in his department is caught misusing them, they will be in the unemployment line. Those are his words, not mine. All right, our Jamie Sherrod for us live tonight. Jamie, thanks for that live report.