The Flock camera debate turns physical.
A candidate running for Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District is now facing felony charges after authorities say he admitted to shooting down four automated license plate reader cameras — including at least one made by Flock Safety, the surveillance company at the center of a growing national privacy fight.
‘Gotta ban these dadgum things.’
Last week, Adam Lee Heimerman, 37, of Lenoir City, was arrested and charged with four counts of felony vandalism.
According to the Blount County Sheriff’s Office and Maryville Police Department, Heimerman admitted to investigators that he used a gun to shoot four automated license plate reader systems over the span of nine days in July.
According to a statement from police, the damaged cameras were first discovered on July 25 — three in Blount County and one in the City of Maryville — prompting a joint investigation by the two agencies.
Officials said evidence showed Heimerman accessed one of the systems from the “property of a house of worship” while a church service was under way.
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The congressional hopeful is now being held at the Blount County Correctional Facility on bonds totaling $40,000, with a hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Blount County General Sessions Court.
Since his arrest, Heimerman has received a remarkable amount of support.
A GoFundMe started on Friday has raked in over $12,000 from more than 360 donors.
Rather than focus on the felony vandalism charges, the fundraiser casts Heimerman as a longtime Tennessean standing up for personal freedom, privacy, and government oversight, with the money earmarked for his defense attorneys.
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Heimerman is running as an independent candidate for Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District, facing off against Democratic candidate Michaela Barnett and Republican incumbent Tim Burchett.
Burchett, one of Congress’ loudest critics of Flock, has been blunt about his objections to the technology. He previously told reporters that lawmakers “gotta ban these dadgum things,” arguing that Americans should never have to choose between safety and liberty.
He recently introduced a bill that would bar federal agencies from buying or accessing automated surveillance systems and that would prevent state and local agencies from using federal funds to purchase them, citing Fourth Amendment concerns.
Under Burchett’s proposal, counties could still contract with Flock — they’d just have to pay for the privilege themselves.
Barnett, the Democratic candidate, has also spoken out against Flock cameras and other mass surveillance tools — although, as one outlet dryly noted, she has not proposed destroying them.
Asked by Military.com about Heimerman’s case, Barnett’s campaign stood by the underlying grievance but condemned the method. “The answer is not the unsafe discharge of a weapon in public spaces,” Barnett said.
Beyond Heimerman’s case, in neighboring Knox County, Mayor Glenn Jacobs — the former WWE wrestler known as Kane — put a hold on the local sheriff’s plan to install 270 Flock cameras, arguing the technology raises Fourth Amendment concerns.
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