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Comment by rnk | Hacker News Reader

I would expect they have cameras, maybe they don't have good coverage. I noticed the power substation in my city has cameras at the entrance gates.

This sure looks like domestic terrorism, hard to believe this is ordinary vandalism. These stations are everywhere so easy targets.

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> This sure looks like domestic terrorism, hard to believe this is ordinary vandalism.

Agreed 100% and framing it as vandalism feels like a disservice from the reporting.

> I would expect they have cameras, maybe they don't have good coverage.

It's also hard for cameras to cover every threatening angle. Any goon with a drone or a rifle can cause some from of damage to a power station, after all.

It's easy enough to cover the substations in cameras, but a hoodie and a mask is all that's needed to thwart cameras. The Jan 6 bomber is still unidentified.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/01/january...

An AR-15 has a 600 yard range. It's also easy enough to cover the area with cameras, but the beltway snipers shot from within the trunk of a car -- making a rolling sniper's nest.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/beltway-snipers

> 600 yard range. It's also easy enough to cover the area with cameras

Really? The entire range all the way around the facility, with resolution capable of identifying perpetrators? That feels like a stretch.

On the local news this morning it was reported that the vandalism was not carried out with firearms.

That's a fair point, which may lend credence to the idea that this was vandalism instead of something more sinister.

Perhaps, although a power company spokesperson did say that the damage was done by “people who likely had familiarity with the systems.” (Or something to that effect.)

> Agreed 100% and framing it as vandalism feels like a disservice from the reporting.

The difference between vandalism and domestic terrorism, in this case, is intent. Since the reporters don't know the intent, calling it domestic terrorism would be speculation, which we need less of in reporting. Sticking to the facts is important.

I would consider the suggestion that four powerstations being hit on the same day is just "vandalism" to be highly speculative at this point.

> ... feels like a disservice from the reporting.

Not a disservice. It's complicity.

Cannabis farms and retailers (1200+) in WA have to have cameras covering every square foot of the facility where controlled substances are. Surely we can do that for energy.

I’m pretty sure that that coverage is just inside their area of operations. Someone can be far outside of a substation and fire a rifle into it to do damage. that is a large area to cover with cameras.

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