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Because that's how you get a felony criminal case started in Ohio (and most, if not all, states and any federal felony cases).
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The simplest reason the indictment failed is that a felony charge amounts to overcharging in this case. Go one layer deeper and you find that cops and prosecutors assume the public likes a "tough on crime" approach, even when a lot of the public think Flock has bought off their local officials to pay Flock to run obnoxious surveillance tools with tax money.
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Public attitudes may be changing. At least for Federal cases, it is quite rare for a grand jury to return a "no bill" or refuse to indict. Presumably, because federal prosecutors normally have their ducks in a row and present a strong case, or if they don't have a strong case, they don't waste time even bringing it to a grand jury.

However, per Wikipedia, "Beginning in late 2025, legal observers documented a marked increase in no-bill decisions in federal cases, particularly in matters arising from protest-related activity."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury#cite_note-37

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Yeah I'm not sure this is public attitudes so much as creeping incompetence from recent political appointments, at least at the federal level.

However that doesn't explain Ohio doing it as neatly, unless I've missed some local politics there.

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Yeah, feels like two things contributing there... 1 - Trump fired many of the good prosecutors. Or made life miserable enough those prosecutors left the job for better paying private sector gigs.

2 - Trump has propensity to sue or charge anything that moves. "Boy who cried wolf" problem. See also: arresting people for taking peeling paint out of the reflecting pool, even when his own DoJ says it was a botched installation.

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Felonies go before a grand jury in Ohio. The article talks about damages in excess of $1,000, which probably means it's a felony charge on that basis.
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Looks like in Ohio the thresholds are:

- 0 to $999: misdemeanor

- 1K: 5th-degree felony

- 7.5K-150K: 4th-degree felony

- 150K+: 3th-degree felony

But what I found interesting is - They aren't automatically inflation adjusted, it has to be manually adjusted by legislation. Which hasn't been done since 2011 meaning that in 2026 terms it would be $1.5K~ for a 5th-degree felony for like-for-like level of damage.

Kind of nuts how a poorly written law can increase the number of felonies just due to inflation alone. Although a lot of things aren't automatically inflation adjusted (e.g. minimum wage), and I think commonly it is on purpose rather than an accident. They WANT harsher sentences for relative low crimes.

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> Although a lot of things aren't automatically inflation adjusted (e.g. minimum wage)

You know what is, though?

The annual budget a senator is allocated for furniture in their office. This year it’s $40,000.

Priorities.

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What makes an ALPR cost more than $1000 per unit?
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The starting value of felony
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All the reasons in the other repliues, and it's also not just an ALPR.
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Probably the pole, footing, and wages for the installation crew.
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The markup I assume
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A quick google reveals a Flock camera costs about $2500 and there's a few hundred dollars in install fees.
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High quality cameras are expensive.
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Equivalent quality cameras can be had for 100-200. Not that expensive.
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