r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 17h ago

Society An engineer built a Flock-like camera to detect police cars, says officers visited him afterward

https://www.techspot.com/news/114167-engineer-built-flock-like-camera-detect-police-cars.html
1.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

489

u/Wompatuckrule 17h ago

"But officer, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about."

181

u/nemom 17h ago

"Lemme just get a quick look in your car and you can be on your way."

Was my first solo car camping trip west of the Mississippi. Thirty-some years ago, I was in my early 20s. Apparently, a young male driving alone on that major north-south highway was a red flag. One officer held me up against the patrol car for an hour while the other pulled all my gear out of the car and tossed it into the ditch looking for drugs. With nothing illegal found, they drove off leaving me to repack.

97

u/Wompatuckrule 16h ago

I knew guys in a band who were pulled over when they were crammed into their touring van. The NJ state trooper decided that there was no way that they didn't have drugs hidden in there so he and his partner pulled everything out, opening and pulling stuff from every bag and box, leaving it strewn on the side of the highway.

When the search came up empty they left it for them to repack everything. Just before they left the lead officer asked one of them the name of their band. After being told he said, "I just want to know so that if you guys ever get big I can tell everybody how I fucked with you."

72

u/Adthay 15h ago

Amazingly self aware of the cop to basically say, "Yeah I measure my self worth by being able to exert power on other people." Like that

9

u/daemenus 11h ago

Almost like a creative writing exercise...

12

u/Red_the_Shred 10h ago

Holy shit this was my band. We had just started our 50 hour drive back to California at the end of a tour. The thing that pissed me off the most was their drug dog drooled all over my box of graphic novels I had collected on that tour. It’s always surreal to hear stories about those experiences second-hand.

7

u/Wompatuckrule 10h ago

These guys were actually very lucky because one member was a heroin addict who happened to be on a clean stretch when they launched this tour.

11

u/Red_the_Shred 9h ago

Ok not my band haha. Apparently New Jersey cops just like bullying all touring bands.

3

u/Wompatuckrule 9h ago

Can you blame them? Just giving yourself the chance to someday brag to your friends that you "fucked with" a famous band when they were starting out has got to be very tempting.

27

u/soilentgleem 15h ago

That's why you don't comply with their request to search your vehicle unless they can clearly tell you what their probable cause is.

34

u/Sarnsereg 15h ago

That doesnt work. They just make up some stupid reason. I thought i smelled weed. He looked high to me. Doesn't have to be true.

12

u/TJonesyNinja 11h ago

You go with something like I will not resist but I do not give consent to search. You can’t stop a cop that was never going to follow the rules anyway. Using “magic words” sometimes makes a cop rethink if they want to screw with you.

3

u/Wompatuckrule 11h ago

Using “magic words” sometimes makes a cop rethink if they want to screw with you.

Including the contradictory words, "I am exercising my right to remain silent."

5

u/soilentgleem 15h ago

It worked for me

20

u/lordmycal 14h ago

Body cams make a big difference here as well. 20 years ago it was all "he said, she said" and cops could do what they want and make up something afterward. That's much harder to do these days thanks to the cameras.

8

u/soilentgleem 13h ago

My situation was more than 15 years ago, I don't remember them having body cams. I do think I was helped by the fact that only one of the officers who were involved really wanted to search my vehicle, and the other seemed to think the dude was on a power trip.

-4

u/Jutboy 12h ago

You are referring to the cameras that the cops can turn off and the departments can delete recordings from without consequences. What a joke that you are supporting that bullshit.

4

u/mkosmo 10h ago

Videos being deleted is a logged event. It's not some issue like you seem to think it is.

2

u/TheShrinkingGiant 13h ago

You say it doesn't work, does this come from personal experience? or Hollywood?

1

u/Wompatuckrule 12h ago

It works, but it depends on whether you can afford decent enough legal representation to demonstrate that the cops were on a fishing expedition (whether they were or not).

So you have to be able to deal with the short term problems (being arrested) and the longer term problems (trial) and a majority of people do not fall into that realm.

13

u/Lopsided-Ticket3813 13h ago edited 11h ago

Same shit has happened to me in Texas multiple times. Once while driving back from a funeral in Mexico with my elderly mom in the middle of Texas summer 3 hrs search based on me being a "young guy driving a nice car"

Boy how can you afford this car. I still remember how pissed he was when I told him 12 years of grade school and a PhD in Aerospace engineering.

13

u/EngFL92 13h ago

Criminals don't like being filmed, regardless of what they are actually doing

120

u/CondescendingShitbag 14h ago

Why are the officers faces scribbled out in the header image but the engineer's isn't? Why do the pigs get more privacy?

24

u/XenoRyet 11h ago

It's from the engineer's video. He chose to blur the faces of the police but not himself.

I'm not sure why whoever posted this picture further did the scribble instead of just leaving the blur, but the engineer chose to have his face be public. Which makes sense, he's trying to get the word out.

13

u/scratchy22 13h ago

It’s insane

8

u/Miserable-Biscotti54 11h ago

Officers have been known to sue. Look at Afroman’s case.

1

u/squishee666 12h ago

There were three officers in the initial photo I saw

6

u/CelticJewelscapes 11h ago

Oklahoma was my stop. Much worse if you are driving a rental car.

6

u/teddycorps 9h ago

Pot, meet kettle

11

u/Kahnza 15h ago

Karma farmer late to the repost party. This one's already been posted a bunch of times in the last couple days.

3

u/SurpriseSoda 11h ago

Wow bet the guy didn't see that comimg

1

u/Grantagonist 8h ago

"Says" - no, they did. He recorded it.

1

u/Mixleflick 10h ago

Bullet proof vests. Jesus Christ.