While most of the vandals ripping down automatic license plate readers prefer to go incognito, an Albuquerque character named Jevon Martinez isn’t afraid to show his face.
Weeks after Bernalillo county officials cancelled their contract with the controversial surveillance company Flock earlier this year, Martinez noticed the automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) were still up. In a series of videos posted on social media and flagged by KOB4, Martinez filmed himself tearing the camera towers down in order to return them to their rightful owners.
“Since [Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department] is busy — I know BCSO is busy, everyone who works for BCSO, I know you guys are busy, so I went ahead and helped you out,” Martinez says while driving his pickup truck, the bed of which is notably full of ALPR parts.
“We got a bunch of these bad boys,” he says in another video, showing off a truck bed stuffed to the brim with tower parts. “Let’s see how much I can get in one day. That’s gonna be the challenge for everyone out there.”
Playing the helpful citizen, Martinez drove his literal truckload of ALPR bits directly to the Sheriff’s department, where he was promptly taken into custody.
Though he wasn’t armed and hadn’t committed any violent offense, officers made a dramatic show of force as they arrested him. Clad with ballistic-resistant plate carriers, the deputies surrounded Martinez’s truck, drawing their guns and forcing him into cuffs.
“Is this a crime? I don’t think so,” Martinez said in one of his videos. “Neither does the public. I’m just liberating my people from tyranny.”
More on Flock: People Taking Down Flock Towers Are Becoming Folk Heroes, With Communities Circling to Protect Them
