Arizona City Using Fake Cactus To Hide License Plate Cameras

P V's a nice place but certainly not above playing games.

They are just trying to dress the place up?

That's funny but annoying at the same time I'm sure.

Recently spotted a cell tower that was disguised as a tree. The tree looked fake.

Now why would you disguise a cell tower...are you ashamed of it? Are you doing something hinky with it? Or are you just trying to make you town look nicer?

People, there is plenty of legitimate stuff to get upset about so don't waste your outrage on this. If you drive on a public street then you have no expectation of privacy regarding anything on the outside of your car.

Up here in Canada the town of Georgetown had a couple cruisers dressed up as taxi's and going around nabbing people I think the people were so upset they abandoned that practice!

It's no problem for me, my Windows are all darkly tinted so it's hard to see in and when I drive I wear a black ski mask and big sun glasses!

Let em' try to prove it twas me that wuz drivin oh, n I wear my pants so the crotch is down around my ankles!

It just seems farfetched that any city would install an expensive license plate reader system to catch stolen cars.

Sounds weird to me.

The repo industry has been doing this for several years. Law enforcement is only now catching up.

Several gated communities have them.

See also http://www.eaglevision1.com/Zoom-Lens-Camera.htm

Paradise Valley has always been a very strict speed control place. They already had more radars than anywhere else in the old time, higher ticket prices, for years. They now have the "electronics cactus." What comes next?

For use in looking for those reported missing for an Amber or Silver Alert it makes sense to have cameras well placed to read plates to help locate a specific vehicle. However, if the main purpose is revenue generation, it is disingenuous to say it is for aesthetics.

However, if those locations do not have utility poles or street sign rods, they would need to be installed. It would be less expensive to keep the mounting hardware and system resilient and basic, not hiding them in fake cacti. To me it appears to be more about hiding where the plate readers are located.

As for cell phone towers, they are necessary infrastructure for our wireless service dependent culture. Those towers that are camouflaged as trees at least allow the otherwise annoying towers to blend into the landscape a bit better. As they serve a general communications purpose having them blend in makes sense.

However, having plate scanners and red light cameras hidden does little to dissuade deviance. It gives the appearance that revenue and personal movement tracking and revenue generation is the main focus.

I any case, when there are red light camera locations posted, I am more likely to stop hard and short when I catch a yellow light rather than attempt to make it through.

It's along the Mass. Pike Eastbound in Weston. When they first put it up it was scraggly-looking; kind of like it was dieing or had been struck by lightning. Rumor was the town residents of the rather affluent community soon complained about the appearance (after complaining that a "regular" tower was "too ugly") so the utility added some more fake branches to it. Not sure what species it's supposed to be, but I'm certain it isn't anything that's native to the United States. (Unless you're talking former Cold War Nuclear test sites) Even the Redwoods don't grow that tall.

It's still pretty cheezy-looking, but it only looks half-dead now.

Yep. Have a family member who lives in Paradise Valley and they routinely have a police vehicle or camera unit parked on the side of a road in their neighborhood to catch speeders. Usually a marked police SUV with cameras on it just inside the Paradise Valley city line from Phoenix. They've known for at least a year about the use of cameras being hidden in the cactuses. They warn everyone from out of town who comes to visit about the cameras and police presence.

We need a "Fake Cactus Camera" POI File added to the list here. I'd add it to my Nuvi even though I'll probably never make it out to Paradise Valley. What a hoot!

How long before the local Fraternities start to make these disappear for Frat House decorating?

Ok. Which half looks dead?

Nuvi1300WTGPS

Ummmmmm.. I. Suppose whichever half you are unlucky enough to to be viewing at the moment!

do the same with cell towers. why do people have nose jobs? aesthetics.

.... a prickly situation.

It just seems to me they are spending a lot of money on it, and I wonder why.

Not like the police do a particularly good job nabbing car thieves.

Don't think money is much of an issue in Paradise Valley. It probably has one of the highest per capita income levels of any city in the United States.

If there using it to catch car thieves it's because of all those luxury vehicles parked in front of all those multi million dollar homes or in the Nordstrom's parking lot at the mall that are getting stolen.

I wonder how long the will keep all the data from these things. I would assume that the majority of the plates they take pics of are going to belong to ordinary law-abiding citizens.

Sounds like you should use fake cactus to hide your license plates!

Cops!

Many years ago, when I lived in Md. I had a boat I kept in Aberdeen.

As we'd drive north on I-95 our of Baltimore, the state police frequently parked a cruser on the other side of a steel barrier with a blow-up cop sitting in the driver's position.

Thanks for the info.

Similar situation on a state highway leading into Centerville, TX. Just as you rolled into town, you sometimes would come upon a city cop car parked at the speed drop where they oftentimes shoot radar. The funny thing was when the local kids figured it out and "decorated" the empty decoy car.

Scofflaw Patrol Van that had License Plate readers on the front and rear of the van roof!

This white Van that has writing on the doors "SCOFFLAW PATROL" came past our home and down the block, stopped, got out and put a boot on a car. A few days later the car was towed away.

I'd like to find a way to actually prevent my license plate from being photographed, but the only thing that probably works is the covers that have a fresnel lens on it, which blacks out several numbers. It was pretty obvious looking, the one time I saw one on a car.

Take the plates off the car when you drive

In some (many?) states intentionally obscuring in part or in whole one's license plate might be a violation of the law and may result in one being pulled over and given a fine/ticket.

Le's see what the next step is. With the current trend, installing automatic guns in the cactus isn't far fetched...

Remember those peddle cars we used to cruise the concrete sidewalk highways around our neighborhoods when we were wee tots?

Go to a bicycle shop, pick out the fictious licence plate of your choice (I'm looking for BARNEYBADASS.. JACK, JILL, JANET are easier to find) acquire said plate, bolt it to a peddle car and then park it in front of the fictious cactus!

Show em two can put up fake things!

Obscuring license plate would be illegal in Washington State.
In Washington toll driving can be done without stopping to pay the toll at the toll both they use license plate readers and will just mail you a toll charge. You get charged an extra dollar but you don't have to slow down. Washington State also issues electronic passes (Good to Go) which automatically get charged again without stopping at a toll booth less expensive than using the toll booth or the pay by mail method. Toll paying no longer has to slow you down.

I knew a guy years ago, he was a private investigator.
He said he put mud on his license plate when he wanted it to be unreadable.

Not sure you would ever get a ticket if your license was obsured in that way.

a cactus would be rather obvious (needless to say). I keep looking for fake trees.

Nope, they would use a fake drug dealer.

Or a fake rioter.

A greedy fake politician... Oh I guess they're everywhere

Last week they had that story on the news. They reported the strong opposition and added that Paradise Valley claims they choose to put in fake cactus because it would "look better than on the top of a pole."
Yeah, right!

1). Get a rope
2). Get a paper towel
3). Get a jar of vasoline or car lube

Now quietly sneak up behind the fake cactus with the rope. Slip the rope around the fake cactus and choke the cactus until it's camera blacks out.

Now, do all the rest of this from behind the cactus so it can't see your face. Open the container of grease, take a healthy glob of the grease and get it into the paper towel. While the camera is still blacked out from being choked, put the grease as a glob on the cameras lense. Put the lid back on the grease and put the paper towel in a bag. Then release the rope allowing the cactus to recover. Now quietly and as inconspicuouly as possible walk away from the cactus so it can't take your picture!

need a fake with so many around doing nothing but looking for ways to separate you from your money so they can support more programs.

Having a fake cactus, sending a fake email, how would it possibly work? You are not speeding, you are not blowing red lights, so what if a cactus or a woman in a cake is setup to distract you, you're not doing anything wrong, who cares?

I think you are taking our comments too seriously. While no one on the forum knows exactly what is being accomplished with the license plate reader in the fake cactus we can assume (and you know where that leads) it is used to detect either stolen vehicles or those with outstanding warrants. None of us knows how the detection system communicates with its operator or exactly what the application of the device accomplishes. That's the wonderful thing about the Internet, everyone has an opinion and now we can voice it regardless of consequences.

Hiding your Plates. Even part of them. The plates MUST be in full view with no covering on them.

That means you must remove any mud, snow or other mater that may be on your plates.

You can even get a ticket for having one of those Plate Frames that might cover even a bit of the lettering on top or bottom.

My son had a frame that had the METS (Yea, I know) on the back and was pulled over and given a warning to take them off.

If you look at car sales, you will see they no longer put those frames on the plates with there advertisements due to the law.

Not sure if this is in other states.