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.
- 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.
You know what is, though?
The annual budget a senator is allocated for furniture in their office. This year it’s $40,000.
Priorities.
Even a simple stop sign is hundreds of dollars when you consider all the costs associated with its installation.
$500 for one of the best [that I know of] consumer LPR cameras. Non-consumer versions go for thousands.
And even if it WAS and will only ever be an ALPR, I'm incredulous that people would accept it.
They say they'll delete "data" in X days, but what they really mean is original source video only. There's no guarantee they'll delete anything else because their moneymaker is compiling sellable "histories" of and AI training data about people, vehicles, and other objects.
Streetlight light sensor ports are being used to retrofit lights with smart lights containing advanced neighborhood spy "cameras" with additional features. So there's more than just standalone or telephone pole-mounted "ALPRs".
* It's not a huge cost and there's obvious motivations to iterate to include additional sensors &| radios to gather additional raw data by using the fleet of "ALPRs" as a platform. Many "ALPRs" have microphones. Some smart streetlight ones do wifi/bt fingerprinting.