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Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

texastribune.org

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Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#21

Post by nonethewiser »

chadgpt3 wrote: post #13
ceejayoz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/gun-laws/stand-your-ground links to https://www.uslawshield.com/defend-property-texas/ > Texas law allows you to use deadly force to protect property if you would be justified in using force, and you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to prevent the imminent commission of specific enumerated property crimes. These are arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during…

You can legally murder people to prevent "mischief", as long as it's at night? Wow.

“Legal” murder makes absolutely no sense. If its legal its not murder. You mean “legally kill”

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#23

Post by thaumasiotes »

nonethewiser wrote: post #20
sokoloff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t see a catalytic converter theft on a car parked on the street as burglary. Parked in a (private) garage? Yes, burglary. Parked on the street? No. So, daytime theft of a converter from a car parked outside wouldn’t qualify I don’t think.

Parked in your driveway

No, the driveway wouldn't count. Texas doesn't define burglary by property boundaries; you have to enter a "building" or a "habitation", and a habitation must be a "structure" or a "vehicle".

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#24

Post by throwup238 »

kryogen1c wrote: post #15
CamelCaseName wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I "revived" the comment by clicking on the timestamp ("33 minutes ago") and then clicking "vouch". I believe only users with a score of 200+ (points? karma?) can do so.

Been here 8 years, always wondered how comments died. I assumed it was algorithmic. TIL

“[dead]” usually means algorithmic (could be as simple as an account registered via Tor that hasn’t been vouched for enough times). “[flagged][dead]” usually means it was flag-killed by users, except I’ve been noticing some AI written comments that are flagged instead of just dead, but they’re minutes old so unlikely to be user flagged.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#26

Post by lostlogin »

qwerpy wrote: post #10

Strange that someone else’s question “Did it reduce catalytic converter theft?”, directly relevant to the article, got downvoted to death. Not sure if we’re meant to have discussions here or just dutifully complain about topics that are fashionable to complain about.

I wondered that too. It doesn't say, but does state: "Data from the license plate readers, known in law enforcement as LPRs, was searched 62,000 times in 2025, leading to about 1,660 cleared catalytic converter theft cases, a report from the authority said."

Also, how many missing people are there? finding 10k seems quite a lot. “one of the most effective ways Flock has been able to help find, just last year, over 10,000 missing persons”.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#27

Post by jrexilius »

chadgpt3 wrote: post #14
Waterluvian wrote: post #12

[flagged]

It's only taught them to keep a lower profile. Nobody's heard of Axon cameras, which are exactly like Flock, and getting installed in all the places that don't have Flock.

Also Motorola, which is the big incumbent provider for LE systems (911, traffic cams, et al). Axon and Motorola re LOVING Flock taking all the ... flak.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#28

Post by baldeagle »

ihsw wrote: post #4

Did it reduce catalytic converter theft?

It’s hard to say. As the economic got better, trade policies stabilized and the price of commodities and therefore the metals in a converter dropped in value. As the price of the metals went down, the thefts dropped nationally. Texas thefts seemed to have dropped inline with the national trend. Since the supply side issues are picking up again, the thefts are going up likewise.

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#29

Post by slashdev »

sokoloff wrote: post #9
ceejayoz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/gun-laws/stand-your-ground links to https://www.uslawshield.com/defend-property-texas/ > Texas law allows you to use deadly force to protect property if you would be justified in using force, and you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to prevent the imminent commission of specific enumerated property crimes. These are arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during…

I can’t see a catalytic converter theft on a car parked on the street as burglary. Parked in a (private) garage? Yes, burglary. Parked on the street? No. So, daytime theft of a converter from a car parked outside wouldn’t qualify I don’t think.

It also mentions:

> theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime.

Seems like that qualifies

Re: Lawmakers added $1 to car insurance policies. That money paid for Flock cameras

#30

Post by defrost »

throwup238 wrote: post #24
kryogen1c wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been here 8 years, always wondered how comments died. I assumed it was algorithmic. TIL

“[dead]” usually means algorithmic (could be as simple as an account registered via Tor that hasn’t been vouched for enough times). “[flagged][dead]” usually means it was flag-killed by users, except I’ve been noticing some AI written comments that are flagged instead of just dead, but they’re minutes old so unlikely to be user flagged.

There's been an "AI comment detect" algo trialed and running for a month or so now.

If you see any probably human comments tagged as Mr Roboto either vouch (weak indication, needs a few others to boost) or email hn@ for dang / tom to cast a meat based eyeball over it.

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