(TikTok screencap)

    • Janx@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      141
      ·
      2 days ago

      They really are. I visit a location with one of these regularly  and a pleasant loudspeaker says “Welcome to [shopping area], please report any disturbances” and I immediately feel like I’m in Half-Life, or another dystopian video game…

      • fishy@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        2 days ago

        The ones by me play loud classical music at night to keep homeless from setting up camp. Nothing makes me feel more safe at night than loud classical music. Just kidding it always makes me feel like a slasher movie killer is just a few feet behind me.

        Probably the most dystopian thing I’ve ever experienced IRL.

      • expatriado@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 days ago

        the aperture laboratories vibes, i get those when i visit old power plants for work, just by the looks

    • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      35
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      It costs less than 10 dollars to disable them.

      It also costs about negative 1200 to steal them.

      It costs infinitely more to do nothing.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        2 days ago

        What even are these? I’m not American, we don’t torture (or have) crackheads here. I mean we do have bums, but hard drugs are too expensive and hard to find for then I think. Booze is easy.

        Anyway, in case anyone here is thinking of their local community’s wellbeing, idk what it’s like in the US with tariffs and all, but I know that in general it’s like 30 bucks off Aliexpress to get a cordless angle grinder that works with Makita batteries. Maybe 50 with a battery and charger included. Yes, they work.

        • Saurok@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          ·
          2 days ago

          It’s like portable CCTV. Police cameras. They can move them to wherever the crime is basically.

        • ExtremeUnicorn@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          2 days ago

          I would like to know as well, if only since if it’s done in the US, it won’t be too long until we get it over here.

          I mean, this obviously looks like some kind of mobile general suspicion surveillance system, but what’s the official story?

          • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            2 days ago

            The official story is that it’s mobile general surveillance to deter crime.

            They’re very open that it’s a surveillance system that watches everyone and records everything.

            https://www.lvt.com/

            They’re a little less open about how open they are with police or exactly how much they can correlate everything with other data. Most people don’t have an intuitive feel for how easy it is to piece together a lot about their lives from some small measurements when tied to everyone else’s, so they just stop at being annoyed by the lights and sometimes fucking commercials.