From small towns to major metros, the blowback is bipartisan.
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It began as a few solitary voices speaking out against Flock and other license plate reader (LPR) cameras during public comment at local government meetings, but a movement that might have initially appeared niche or fringe is gaining serious traction in jurisdictions all over Florida.
The Oviedo City Council plans to meet Monday to draft a measure terminating the city’s five-year, $128,000 contract with Flock and deactivating the eight cameras placed at the entrance to the city in 2025. The move comes after more than an hour of discussion and intense pressure from residents at the Council’s Aug. 17 meeting.
Lake City’s Council voted 3-2 against placing a special nonbinding referendum on the ballot in November asking voters if they wanted the city’s Flock cameras to continue operating.
In Palm Bay, the city’s Flock cameras are returning to service this week after being briefly deactivated pending a review to confirm they were permitted correctly.
Much like opposition to data centers, the pushback to Flock cameras is largely bipartisan. Leon County, a Democratic stronghold, voted in July to reject grant funding earmarked for Flock cameras following a public outcry.
Three hours down Interstate 10, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves, a registered Republican, recently won re-election by a comfortable margin. His constituents have protested the City Council’s decision last year to use $108,000 from an opioid settlement to purchase 18 Flock cameras.
Flock cameras are increasingly cropping up as an issue not only at Council meetings, but in elections too. One of the most visible fights anywhere in the state is currently taking place in St. Petersburg, where Mayor Ken Welch is fighting for his political life against Charlie Crist.
Under Welch, the city rolled out a 25-camera test run program in 2022, seemingly without a City Council vote. Two years later, as part of the consent agenda, the Council approved a $730,250, five-year expansion that doubled the number of cameras.
Crist, who led the first round of voting on Aug. 18 and appears poised to unseat Welch, has called for a local LPR camera moratorium until the issue can be better studied and understood. Meanwhile, Welch and Police Chief Anthony Holloway have defended the city’s use of Flock cameras.
All eyes will be on the St. Pete City Council on Thursday when the Council will vote on an item introduced by Vice Chair Richie Floyd that would direct the Public Services and Infrastructure Committee to review the contract and how the cameras are used.
The issue has even broken into the Governor’s race, with U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds calling for a statewide pause on Flock cameras, while Democratic nominee David Jolly has stopped short of supporting a ban but says he wants more guardrails.
Florida Politics asked a bipartisan group of a dozen elected officials and candidates for office to weigh in on Flock cameras. Eric Yonce, a Democrat who will challenge U.S. Rep. Randy Fine in November, said he supports “strict” federal legislation.
“While these technologies can be useful law enforcement tools, the government should not have an unlimited ability to track where people go and who they associate with,” Yonce said.
Republican Mike Beltran, who is seeking to oust U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor in Florida’s 14th Congressional District, sounded a similar note.
“I have serious concerns about systems that allow Americans’ movements to be tracked without adequate limits or oversight,” Beltran said. “At a minimum, accessing these systems should require a warrant, every search should be logged and auditable to prevent abuse.”
Flock camera opponents point to cases of misuse by police officers, including a recent incident in which a Haines City police officer is facing charges after using LPR cameras to search for his estranged wife’s vehicle 717 times in a 22-month period.
Flock recently announced guardrails aimed at addressing misuse by officers and other privacy concerns, but activists say the changes don’t go far enough and don’t change their underlying conviction that the cameras violate the spirit of the Fourth Amendment.
Law enforcement has defended the technology, arguing it is invaluable in solving kidnappings, car thefts and other crimes. Some agencies have sought to assuage residents’ concerns. Back in January, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office published an FAQ on Flock cameras.
However, many other agencies have declined to comment, including every law enforcement agency contacted in Bay County for a story about residents in Panama City organizing an anti-Flock camera demonstration. St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick recently remarked that cities that have curtailed Flock cameras are the “same cities that defunded the police.”
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