Historically, the presence of a strange new plant near your house would portend nothing more serious than an irritating weed infestation.
But now, with the U.S.'s southern border becoming more porous than a used-up sponge, some strange plants popping up in people's yards in southern California have turned out to be something far more sinister.
As seen in a message posted to the social media platform X by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, certain criminals coming from South America have begun hiding cameras disguised as plants in people's yards.
The camera/battery pack was turned into by a local resident,who found in their flower bed. If a suspicious device is found, immediately report it to @LHSLASD (818) 878-1808, or your local law enforcement. #SeeSomethingSaySomethinghttps://t.co/4Ecl1dzlq9 pic.twitter.com/srFKmd2iDj
— LASD Lost Hills Stn. (@LHSLASD) May 28, 2024
According to the LASD Lost Hills Station, these South American burglary gangs often come from Chile or Colombia on limited tourist visas, then use their time in the country to spy on and burglarize houses.
The Riverside County Press-Enterprise reported that on May 20, a sergeant pulled over a car driving at night without its headlights on.
In the car were four Colombian men, who had in their possession a camera and battery pack disguised with leaves.
But, as the LASD Lost Hills advisory from May 28 showed, residents are still finding these disguised hidden cameras in their yards and flower beds.
Residents have been doubly puzzled, since the cameras have been discovered in the yards of solidly middle-class neighborhoods in the area, when, as resident Steve Hippler told the Press-Enterprise, "There are dozens of homes a block away that are more affluent. Anything up that street is like a freaking mansion compared to this place."
While these cameras were discovered in southern California, with most of the crimes happening in that general area, these gangs haven't limited their burglary sprees to one geographic location.
Rather, the law enforcement bulletin explained, they often go from state to state, scouting out locations, spying on houses and deploying a quick smash-and-grab on their victim's residences.
These gangs have gone as far afield as Detroit, Michigan, where they even deployed Wi-Fi jammers to disable home security devices, with the side effect of preventing residents from calling the police.
With the southern California robberies, however, Sgt. Vahe Abramyan explained that the hidden cameras serve the purpose of seeing "the behaviors of the house -- who lives there, who goes in and out, what happens during the day. That way they can focus their attention on the timespan when no one is home."
Indeed, the hidden cameras have been what made this rash of crimes in Chino Hills County distinct from similar burglaries in San Bernadino and Riverside, California.
Still, these gangs’ increasing deployment of sophisticated technology has put both law enforcement and homeowners at a significant disadvantage.
Criminals keep up with the latest technology and use whatever tools they can to make their jobs easier and more lucrative.
Though some of these criminals have been caught and many of these cameras have been found, the fact that they have planted so many hidden cameras in these upscale -- or even middle-class -- neighborhoods has kept them one step ahead of law enforcement.
So long as it remains disgracefully easy to cross the border, these criminal gangs will keep terrorizing the law-abiding citizens of this country.
And until the border is secured, no citizen will be truly safe from these ruthless burglary tourists from south of the border.
