U.S. Air Force Engineer Faces Felony Charges For Allegedly Damaging Flock Cameras

“I Appreciate Everyone’s Right To Privacy” – U.S. Air Force Engineer Faces Felony Charges For Allegedly Damaging Flock Cameras

A U.S. Air Force engineer based in Virginia faces 13 felony counts of destruction of property, six counts of petit larceny, and six counts of possession of burglary tools for allegedly damaging 13 Flock cameras in the Suffolk area between April and October 2025.

Jeffrey Sovern, 41, was arrested by Suffolk Police in October.

Sovern, who has pleaded not guilty, allegedly called Flock camera license plate reader systems “unconstitutional and a violation of his and others’ Fourth Amendment rights.”

Air Force Engineer Accused of Cutting Down 13 Police Cameras Says They're Unconstitutional

Jeffrey Sovern faces 25 charges after Virginia Police say he destroyed 13 Flock license plate cameras. Supporters are paying his legal bills.

Military.com explained further:

A local vandalism case would normally stay local. This one has become a national boiling point in the ever-burgeoning fight over automated license plate readers.

Privacy advocates across the country have donated more than $15,000 to Sovern’s legal defense, and his case is unfolding in Hampton Roads—a region that holds one of the largest concentrations of military personnel in the country, as well as more than 600 such cameras.

At the late June preliminary hearing, Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Nicole Belote certified all charges to the circuit court, WAVY reported, sending the case toward a possible grand jury indictment and trial. Sovern also faces separate petit larceny charges in Chesapeake, according to WAVY, and was free on bond as of December.

Flock Safety builds automated license plate readers, solar-powered cameras that photograph every plate that passes and store the images in a searchable database for 30 days, according to Flock Safety’s evidence policy. The company’s software can also log a vehicle’s make and color, along with identifying features such as bumper stickers.

Its network now operates in more than 6,000 communities nationwide. Hampton Roads has embraced the technology at scale. More than 600 Flock cameras operate across the region, including 70 in Suffolk, according to an exhibit filed in a federal lawsuit and reported by WAVY. Police departments credit the readers with helping to solve crimes and deter offenders.

Critics argue the cameras amount to a warrantless tracking network that logs the daily movements of ordinary drivers. That argument has already reached a courtroom in neighboring Norfolk, where a federal judge ruled in January that the city’s network of 176 Flock cameras did not violate the Fourth Amendment, finding the system does not track the whole of a person’s movements.

The two residents who sued, backed by the Institute for Justice, are appealing.

“I appreciate everyone’s right to privacy, enshrined in the fourth amendment. With the local news outlets finding my legal issues and creating a story that is starting to grow, there has been community support for me that I humbly welcome,” a GoFundMe page stated.

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Multiple Flock Cameras Found Damaged In Texas City, American Flag Planted

Multiple Flock Cameras Found Damaged In Texas City, American Flag Planted

Police officers in Houston, Texas, have found several damaged Flock license plate reader cameras.

“Two Flock cameras were found cut in half and spray-painted,” ABC13 Houston reports.

One now has an American flag on it.

“This camera has been cut down, completely sprayed over with an American flag on it,” ABC13 Houston reporter Sarah Al-Shaikh said.

“And not far away, there is another Flock camera on the ground,” she added.

Houston officials are furious after a SURGE in Flock cameras being ripped down, vandalized and destroyed — with at least 4 being attacked in a matter of days

They put an AMERICAN FLAG over the destroyed camera This is happening in the Carolinas in Georgia as well "This camera has been cut down with an American flag on it. Another Flock camera is on the ground a block away."

“A criminal justice expert tells me this could be a sign of the growing public unease with this type of video surveillance,” Al-Shaikh said in another video.

In another report, ABC13 Houston said residents are asking commissioners to cancel the Flock Camera contract.

“I’m concerned that these cameras increase the risk of mass surveillance, loss of privacy, exposure of personal data, and potential false arrests,” one resident said, according to the outlet.

More Flock cameras cut down in Houston amid some privacy concerns

 More license plate-reading Flock cameras have been cut down in Houston. Earlier this week, ABC13 reported on two Flock cameras vandalized near Washington Avenue and Westcott.

Now, two more have been found on the ground near Memorial Park.

The damage comes as questions continue over the growing use of this surveillance technology in public spaces.

Houston Police confirmed an investigation into this.

While the motive is unknown, the technology itself has drawn criticism in the past from people concerned about the data it's collecting.

"What level of frustration have we encountered?" asked Texas Southern University Professor Howard Henderson.

Henderson, the founding director of the Center for Justice Research, said the backlash reflects broader concerns over privacy and who ultimately has access to the information these cameras collect.

"For many in society, they're looking at what the negative unintended consequences may be if this information gets leaked or someone uses it and finds themselves in the wrong hands," Henderson said.

A crowdsourced map from DeFlock showed thousands of Flock cameras across the Greater Houston area.

Because anyone can submit locations, ABC13 cannot independently verify the data shown, but we know that multiple law enforcement agencies use the cameras.

Houston expanded its use of the technology through a multi-million-dollar agreement with Flock in 2022.

In that contract, HPD described the cameras as an investigative tool, writing that "All data from vehicles observed will be provided to HPD for further assessment in detecting vehicles wanted in suspicious or post-event investigations for law enforcement purposes."

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The evolution of Flock cameras from Jan. 2024 - July 2026

The evolution of Flock cameras from Jan. 2024 - July 2026

These are spreading like a plague.

Video

The great AI data centre cover-up

The great AI data centre cover-up

Pilita Clark

Data hubs already devour more electricity globally than all but 10 countries. About 448 terawatt hours last year if you’re interested. The AI boom means that amount is on track to roughly double within four years.

This would be less of a problem if all the new electricity were green. It won’t be because so many countries still get most of their power from fossil fuels. That includes the US and China, the two largest data centre markets by far.

So the faster these sites multiply, the more planet-heating carbon emissions for the rest of us. 

It gets worse. The battle to build data centres is so fierce that the tech giants are not hanging around and waiting for a backlogged grid connection like other companies. Instead, they are funding their own off-grid power plants.

And because they want features such as super-reliable “five nines”, or 99.999 per cent power availability with only a few minutes of downtime a year, they are often going for systems powered by gas and diesel, which emit air pollutants when burnt.

As of this year, analysts say data centre developers in the US have announced about 100GW of off-grid gas generation. It’s unlikely this will all be built, but Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta alone is planning to fund 10 gas power plants across Louisiana for its hubs.

And here’s where that Kinsley rule of legal scandals kicks in. 

Louisiana is one of a growing number of places trying to lure AI investment with business-friendly rules that in some states mean faster power plant approvals and less public scrutiny. 

As Reuters reported last month, an Ohio law has allowed some plants to be approved in just 45 days without public hearings. 

People are understandably angry. An unprecedented 75 US data centre projects worth around $130bn were blocked or delayed in the first three months of this year, nearly as many as in the whole of 2025, says the Data Center Watch research group. It reckons active opposition group numbers have grown from 396 at the end of 2025 to 833 by the end of March.

The AI giants’ demand for electricity is only part of the problem. Data centres are a concrete target if you’re worrying about job-killing robots. But they also swallow up land and water. By 2030, they could be using enough water to meet the basic needs of all 1.3bn sub-Saharan Africans for a year, UN researchers estimate. 

You can see why it is so important to know exactly what these companies are building and where. But transparency is for the little people. You and I might be fined for not telling the government what we earned last year. An AI company can quietly get the nod for a gas power plant across the road from your home without so much as a public hearing. It’s not needed for private off-grid customers, developers say.

 Meta, Google and other big tech companies have long published data on company-wide electricity and water use, which has often soared since AI took off in 2022. But the figures are not always broken down for their data centres and it is hard to find any reporting on the effect of AI workloads.

OpenAI’s policy on AI infrastructure is still instructive. “We support policies that require transparency around water, electricity, and government agreements,” it says, “with appropriate exceptions to maintain security, commercial sensitivities, trade secrets, and proprietary information.” 

Russia Warns NATO Leaders To 'Stop & Think' Before Leading World To Catastrophic Confrontation

Russia Warns NATO Leaders To 'Stop & Think' Before Leading World To Catastrophic Confrontation

TYLER DURDEN

Another night has passed, and the usual major Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil and facilities and tankers have occurred, this time impacting at least three Russian regions, authorities said Thursday. 

Strikes hit oil depots in the Stavropol and Tver regions, as well as an oil pumping station in the republic of Bashkortostan and a marine loading terminal in the Rostov region - along with other reported impacts, Amsterdam-based Moscow Times reports.

During this week's NATO summit, Ukraine's President Zelensky was touting his country's drone capabilities as among the best in the world, and that now, essentially no place is safe in Russia.

This was perhaps on display Monday, when long-range drones apparently set a new distance record in striking a sprawling oil refinery in the city of Omsk in western Siberia

"Today, our long-range sanctions reached the oil refinery in Omsk – nearly 2,500 kilometers from Ukraine," Zelensky had announced in a nightly address soon after the attack.

"Upgraded Fire Point drones have put Siberia within reach of Ukrainian precision. This is a significant blow to Russia’s oil economy and an important achievement for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelensky said.

The messaging from NATO leaders gathered in Ankara had clearly been one of support. For example, President Trump had commented, "It's an escalation but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end [of the war]."

Following these developments, the Kremlin is freshly warning Western strategists to 'stop and think' before leading the world to the brink of disaster by confronting nuclear-armed Russia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova statedThursday, "European elites are positioning themselves as leaders in the confrontation between the 'collective West' and our country," Zakharova said.

"They likely don't realize that all this entails not only creating threats and problems for Russia, but also a significant depletion of resources and the creation of hotbeds of military tension within Europe itself," she added.

She also underscored how pursuing peace with Russia was glaringly absent NATO proceedings at the Turkey summit. "A constructive agenda remains a low priority for NATO," the Kremlin spokesperson continued.

"It's a shame that if NATO strategists had stopped and reflected, they might not have made such irresponsible decisions that could lead to disaster not only for the alliance, but for the entire world," she said.

Prominent Russian writer and political philosopher Alexander Dugin has also commented, "The summit of NATO is a clear sign of all spectrum escalation. The growth of Russophobia and new phase of war against Iran."

Indeed both the Ukraine and Iran conflict theatres are growing hotter once again, and there's simultaneous escalation. Dugin has also warned that the "MoU is over. The new phase of the war begins. The escalation with Russia is going to grow."