Police say four Flock cameras were cut down in Cape Coral, hindering crime-fighting leads

Cape Coral police are looking for the person responsible for damaging a key crime-fighting camera tool. "If you ask me under oath what my opinion was, I would tell you that it looked to me like it was cut off with a saw," said cybersecurity expert Ray Leventhal with CPR Tools. It happened at the intersection of Diplomat Parkway East and Santa Barbara Boulevard in Cape Coral. Police say four Flock cameras were damaged. Does cutting a camera down actually stop the information from being stored? "That's the pole that's holding it down. The camera does not have a lot of storage. Whatever photographs it takes or transmits, it almost immediately goes to that central database," said Leventhal. License plate reader cameras serve as a crime-fighting tool, analyzing everything that passes by them. When a camera is taken offline, Flock Safety says an investigative lead could disappear A Flock Safety spokesperson also sent Gulf Coast News a statement after the incident in part: "A time-sensitive alert tied to an Amber Alert, a missing-person case, or a violent crime suspect on the move may never reach the officers who need it." "If the camera was taken offline before those last images were transmitted, then that would certainly interrupt any sort of investigation that might be pertinent to those images that did not get transmitted," said Leventhal. When a Flock camera is vandalized, the company says it works directly with law enforcement to investigate damaged or stolen cameras. Count on Gulf Coast News to keep you updated on this investigation. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.