He wanted to be seen

Jevon Martinez, 44, of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, recorded himself stripping Flock Safety camera equipment from around Bernalillo County on Sept. 2 and loading it into his pickup.

The sheriff quit Flock first

Days earlier, Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen moved to end the department's three contracts with Flock Safety, citing privacy, data sharing and a loss of confidence in the company.

Timing became permission

Martinez treated the remaining cameras as unfinished business. In his telling, BCSO had walked away, so the hardware was just sitting there waiting to be collected.

His stated defense

In a Sept. 2 post he said he was not destroying or stealing anything. He called it unattended property he was gathering up to return to the sheriff.

Doing the department a favor

Driving with the equipment in his truck, he framed the whole thing as a courtesy to busy deputies who had not gotten around to the cleanup themselves.

“Since BCSO is busy, I know BCSO is busy... so I went ahead and helped you out.”

The truck bed told on him

As he talked, the camera panned to Flock gear stacking up behind him. The footage he made to explain himself also documented exactly how much he took.

“We got a bunch of these bad boys.”

Not his first case

Rio Rancho police had arrested him months earlier in a separate Sandoval County case over the alleged removal and damage of three license plate reader systems. He faced nine felony charges there.

He turned it into a game

Martinez invited viewers to keep score with him, giving the removals the feel of a challenge rather than a protest.

“Let's see how much I can get in one day. That's gonna be the challenge for everyone out there.”

Tyranny trees

He called the cameras "tyranny trees" and told viewers "Not in my city, not in my state," dismantling one system on a livestream while narrating his reasoning.

“Not in my city, not in my state.”

Only two were the sheriff's

Authorities say he removed 10 Flock systems worth roughly $16,500. Just two were tied to BCSO. The other eight belonged to neighborhood associations.

The return story falls apart

His whole argument rested on giving gear back to a department that had cancelled. Most of what deputies recovered was never the department's to begin with.

Nobody authorized this

BCSO says the equipment stayed private property regardless of the contract status, and no member of the public had permission to take it down.

Guns drawn outside HQ

The complaint says he drove past sheriff's headquarters three times with the gear still loaded. Deputies surrounded the truck with weapons drawn and cuffed him. He was unarmed.

The charges he faces

Accounts differ between attempted larceny over $2,500 and larceny over $2,500, plus an interference with communications charge. Everything remains an allegation until proven.

Free, then not free

A judge declined to hold him in the Bernalillo case on Sept. 4, but he stayed in custody over release conditions in the Sandoval County matter, where a grand jury has since indicted him.

What the sheriff actually objected to

Allen's contracts covered five plate readers, 16 speed cameras and gunshot detection. He still backs the technology. His problem was the vendor, the safeguards and outside agencies reaching New Mexico plate data.

Why the cameras worry people

Plate readers log plate text, time, location and vehicle details. A Colorado woman was accused of porch theft after Flock placed her truck nearby, until other location data cleared her.

Push the people with authority

Find out who runs the readers near you, how long data is kept, who can search it and how searches are audited. Public records and contract renewal meetings beat a wrench.

“That keeps the debate focused on surveillance policy rather than turning it into a criminal case.”