Oakland Police Attempt to Seize Canadian’s Tesla to Access Possible Sentry Mode Crime Footage – Drive Tesla
by sylvaing
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Oakland Police Attempt to Seize Canadian’s Tesla to Access Possible Sentry Mode Crime Footage – Drive Tesla
9 Comments
Good to know this might happen.
I’ll just copy what I said in one of the other threads about this (different sub):
It’s hilarious that they do this. If the police thought my vehicle may have witnessed a crime, I would gladly provide a copy of the data. No issues.
But go straight to trying to seize it? I will pay any fees to any lawyers just to tie them up out of spite.
And let me guess… they will refuse to pay for damage to the vehicle caused by attempting to forcibly access the interior of the car and the glove box to get to the USB storage.
And what if they find evidence of a different crime committed by the owner of the car while searching through any Sentry recordings? Is the footage admisible or not?
Horrible
I’m not a snitch, why would I allow my car to be. You boys are working for that footage. Show me a warrant.
Weird? Haven’t considered this in years and recently the issue is cropping up all over the place.
My solution is that police should be allowed to get a warrant within minutes and the car would be responsible for giving the officers the information requested. i.e. footage covering the period in the warrant.
From the police side, getting a warrant should involve an actual crime having occurred and reasonable expectation that the car might have witnessed the crime or something connected to the crime.
Anything not related to the crime in the warrant as usual becomes forbidden fruit that the police are not allowed to use and that should cut down on fishing expeditions.
I should hope they’d only tow someone else’s car if the crime being investigated was serious and the footage could actually help protect the public safety.
If it’s something minor, then ask the driver. Leave a note under their windshield wiper: “hey, it’s Oakland PD, we’re looking for a guy who broke into the car next to yours. We don’t want to just break into your car too, but if you’ve got Sentry footage, could you call us? We’ll give you $100 for your trouble and a free donut (we have plenty). Thanks in advance.”
1. They couldn’t find the owner of the vehicle as he was an out-of towner (as it says in the headline: he was a Canadian.)
2. The police had a warrant. It wasn’t random.
3. The car wasn’t actually towed as the owner returned before they could tow it.
4. Video that the car recorded showed a murder.
5. Arrests were made based in part on the video evidence from the car.
6. Stop getting worked up over ridiculous clickbait headlines.
Yes, the “Sentry” mode – which is designed to detect evidence of crimes – might be used… as evidence when investigating crimes. You’re a buffoon if you have a problem with any of this.
And if you are doing illegal shit in public and get upset at the idea that your car’s camera might be used to investigate crimes, maybe don’t drive a computer that records everything and has like nine different cameras all over it. Or actually do, because the evidence it collects can then be used against you.
I don’t drive a Tesla, but I have a dashcam with a parking mode so yes, I am in the same boat. And yes, I’m fine with everything that happened – except for the murder, obviously.
The real story here is that a Canadian plated car survived a trip through Oakland without getting its windows broken or the wheels stolen.
I wouldn’t even park a rental car around Oakland… I’d just Uber so I wouldn’t have to deal with any insurance headaches.