"I'm not a Karen": Utah woman on why she reported Flock vandalism

• The ubiquitous license-plate-reading cameras have been broadly excoriated for enabling potential government and corporate surveillance of drivers' movements, as well as alleged police abuses.

That risks unpopularity for anyone who reports the vigilantes who have been destroying them in neighborhoods across the country.

Driving the news: Two men were arrested this week after the woman told police they had cut down the camera and smashed it.

• The suspects have since been lauded as heroes, with comparisons to the Boston Tea Party and assorted alibis volunteered by their fans.

The intrigue: Mary Ellen Crase, who called police, tells KUTV she also wants to buy them a beer "because I don't want [the camera] in front of my house."

• "I'm not a Karen," she insists.

Friction point: Crase says she called police because her property was harmed both this week and earlier this year, when a previous camera was cut down at the same location.

• The efforts damaged a pop-up camper she had parked nearby and left shards of glass and metal in her yard, where her children play.

The bottom line: The public may support the cameras' destruction — but only if vigilantes clean up their own mess.