Gov. DeSantis orders license plate cameras removed from state roads, Sheriff Scott announces removal of 27 cameras
BY JESSE THOMAS FLETCHER
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ASO) has identified 27 automated license-plate readers that must be removed from state highway rights-of-way within 30 days under a directive issued Monday by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Sheriff Chad Scott announced.
Scott did not announce a county-wide shutdown of automated license plate readers (ALPR), noting their value in “solving homicides, violent attacks, armed robberies, burglaries, missing-person cases, and other serious crimes”.
“The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office will comply with FDOT’s directive regarding the placement of ALPRs within state highway rights-of-way,” Scott said in a message posted on Facebook. “At the same time, we will continue working to understand what options remain available to us so that we can maintain effective investigative capabilities.” Scott said the technology has helped investigators develop leads, identify vehicles connected to crimes, and locate wanted individuals.
The ASO response differs from actions taken by other Florida jurisdictions.
Jacksonville, Putnam County, and Clay County Sheriff’s Offices have all announced complete suspensions and removals of their ALPR systems, going beyond the FDOT directive.
Privacy and public safety
Automated license-plate readers use cameras to capture license-plate numbers, vehicle images, and the time and location of each sighting. The information can be stored in searchable databases and shared among law-enforcement agencies. The cameras typically record every readable plate within their view, not only plates associated with suspected crimes, allowing users to search previous sightings or receive alerts when a plate on a watch list is detected.
Sheriff Scott emphasized both the technology’s value in investigations of serious crimes and its potential to collect information about people who are not suspected of crimes.
“As law-abiding citizens, we should never lose sight of the fact that people simply want to go about their daily lives without feeling as though their movements are being unnecessarily monitored or that information about them is being retained or accessed for purposes unrelated to legitimate public safety. At the same time, we cannot ignore the tremendous public-safety value this technology can provide when it is used appropriately, responsibly, and within clearly defined legal and policy boundaries,” Scott wrote.
“The vast majority of vehicles captured by ALPR technology belong to ordinary people who are simply going to work, taking their children to school, visiting family, going to the grocery store, or otherwise living their lives,” Scott wrote. “Those people are not suspects, and they should not be treated as such.”
The FDOT memorandum cites the “exponential increase” in police deployments, reports of misuse, data-privacy concerns, and “surveillance schemes” as reasons for immediate action to preserve “Floridians’ sovereignty and quality of life.”
The memorandum was signed by Will Watts, FDOT’s chief operating officer and assistant secretary. The directive applies only to the state highway system rights-of-way and does not require the removal of cameras located solely on city- or county-controlled roads.
The directive follows Gov. Ron DeSantis’ announcement Friday that state agencies were removing license-plate readers: “Our agencies that had a few of them are bringing them down. We’re going to clear the state rights-of-ways,” DeSantis told Eric Bolling.
Two days earlier, DeSantis called the spread of license-plate readers “out of control” and said he did not want Florida to become a “surveillance state.” He said most systems are operated by police departments and sheriff’s offices and that broader restrictions would require legislative action.
Local response
Before FDOT released the memorandum, Gainesville Police Department (GPD) told Alachua Chronicle that none of its cameras are located on state rights-of-way. GPD said it did not have a response specific to DeSantis’ comments: “We will continue to monitor state and local laws that may influence their use,” a spokesman said. Today we asked City officials to confirm, after reviewing the memorandum, whether any GPD cameras would be affected, but we did not receive an immediate response.
During an Aug. 6 Gainesville City Commission meeting, Police Chief Nelson Moya said GPD has Flock cameras at 10 locations and cameras from another vendor at about five additional locations. Moya said he knew of no local misuse and called successful results from the cameras “irreplaceable.”
Moya said officers must enter an active case number before looking up information and that an administrator audits use of the system. “There is no free-for-all, where we can sit there and look up a tag to see if a Commissioner is going by this intersection at what time,” he said, according to Alachua Chronicle’s report on the meeting.
For now, the FDOT memorandum has resulted in the identification of 27 ALPRs that must be removed within 30 days.
Who authorized the acquisition, installation, activation, etc., including cost to taxpayers, of these cameras to begin with?
I have read of cases of misuse and punish those and hold them accountable but I have read where they recently found a young girl that had been kidnapped by the mother’s boyfriend by locating his car by the flock cameras. I think the positive they do are worth keeping them. I know many feel “big brother” is just using them to watch you, but you are being tracked in other ways so it really doesn’t matter.
Native, yes you ARE being tracked by your phones every minute of every day. However, Law Enforcement or other entities need a court order to ascertain that data. With Flock cameras, ALL of the data goes into a searchable index that is ripe for abuse/misuse.
I too am a Florida native, but I refuse top passively accept a government intrusion into my life. You are correct about being tracked in other ways, but that doesn’t mean that one should just sit back and say “Oh well, I’m just a sheep…nothing I can do about it….”
As usual, DeSantis arrives on the scene a day late, and $10M dollars misappropriated to his wife short….
The Flock camera controversy obfuscates a more central issue: why should residents of “free Florida” be required to display license plates on their cars? They serve zero purpose other than to facilitate government surveillance, whether by Flock camera or by old school traditional monitoring.
On the contrary, Samuel. They are designed to #1) tell law enforcement if that vehicle is properly registered to operate on the roads of Florida and #2) to tell Law Enforcement who ‘should’ own that car and who ‘should’ be driving it. For example, say someone in a Blue Chevy Blazer commits a robbery and THEIR tag is ‘SAMYISA2L’ but YOU drive a Blue Chevy Blazer with a tag that reads ‘G8RLUV’, LE would most likely NOT pull you over.
Thank you, thank you!
Love him or hate him, at least Gov DeSantis is bringing some light to this insane public-private surveillance state problem.
Lame duck Desantis trying to remain relevant while hurting law enforcement. Watch all the little sheep cow tow to the demigod.
Cell phones are tracked daily, but the great debate is over LPR’s. 🤷♂️
Cell phones are not ‘tracked’ by law enforcement without a court order. The ‘little sheep’ are those that see Liberty and 4th Amendment rights as optional.
You need a warrant to track a cell phone.
They are not getting warrants to plate trackers.
The world doesn’t revolve around law enforcement. Nice straw man but cell phones can be left at home or you can change your settings and turn off location services. Cell phones are not forced dragnet government surveillance…they are a personal choice.
How about this…Law enforcement can use their street assets and pay panhandlers $10 a day to wear body cams with ALPR technology. Win win, right?…
Typical braindead liberal comment. “Hurr durr because some people choose to carry a completely optional tracking device on them, that makes it okay for the government to track citizens 24/7”.
Susan,
You do know that you need the cops need a warrant to view cell data, right?
They are not doing this with Flock Cameras.
Susie, Flock stores all the data in a searchable index that has been proven to be vulnerable to abuse/misuse. Law Enforcement needs court orders to ascertain cell phone data. HUGE difference.
But can the city and county keep the panhandlers out of the street medians?
I judge how good ASO & GPD are doing their jobs if I see any bums daily at the intersection of 39th Ave & Waldo road…
both agencies fail if they can’t keep panhandlers out of that intersection…
it’s a public safety issue…
Who monitoring those flock cameras there?
Every cop that sees this and does nothing should be fined and reprimanded … see something, do something !
Because they have nothing better to do then stop people from begging. How about Gainesville stop services for homeless and get out of here. Maybe YOU should do something!
Flock cameras do serve a purpose when properly used for criminal investigations but the misuse of public surveillance and tag readers has far outweighed the benefits. Look across this state on how many criminal cases that are being filed for misuse.
Bullwinkle is right. The homeless population in Alachua county is out of control. It looks more like a city in California, Washington, or Oregon then a college town. Look at the arrests every week and tell me that the homeless are not a issue.
To your point, whether they help or not, whether they are abused or not, is basically irrelevant–these AI-powered cameras constitute a government-controlled, warrantless surveillance network on the movements and associations and private citizen and violate the Fourth Amendment.
I’m sure that in some instances they can benefit law enforcement, but it’s just a Constitutional line we can’t cross.
https://maps.deflock.org/?lat=29.6146&lng=-82.3410&zoom=18.08
How flock cameras took over America.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000786953763
See, Americans can still come together on major issues. The pushback against surveillance is proof. No amount of propaganda or gas lighting was able to overcome the will of the people.
Perhaps list specific vehicles that were located regarding specific crimes..
If the cameras help 1 person…they’re worth it. If you’re not involved in illegal activity, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
It’s already been shown to be abused by officials and private entities. The cameras are not just being used for law enforcement purposes. Wait till a city wants to track you to see if you are wearing a diaper mask in your car during the next government sponsored CoVid crisis or how many times you go to trash dump or gun range.
The “if you do nothing wrong what do have to worry about” argument is fundamentally weak. Who decides what is right and wrong? “Right” and “wrong” can change in a flash.
Didn’t the Covid hoax teach us anything? Power corrupts and that’s damn sure obvious to all at this point!
We live in a lie. Let’s just come to terms with it, try to correct corse, and move forward.
The Constitution asks that people zoom out to see the entirety of a social matter, this stated literally and not as a bad pun. Even with all the due process built into the inherent rights of Americans, the immense power of flock cameras alone to surveil the people must not be a judgment entrusted to government and its law enforcement.
Now if the City of Gainesville would do that also. First off why do we need an outwide source to operate those Flock Camera’s ? Just more Government overreach. Maybe we should have cameras and microphones behind closed doors at City Hall.
I’m CERTAIN Flock cameras have enormous benefits. That’s not what we, your customers and taxpayers, are against. The problem is that police nationwide have demonstrated an ABSOLUTE lack of trustworthiness with surveillance technology, using it to stalk lovers, ex-wives, romantic competitors and innocent people.
YOU, the police, did this to yourselves.
Want us to trust Flock? Make the rules draconian.
Every search requires a serious crime, case number, written justification and certification under penalty of perjury. A supervisor approves it and shares responsibility. Every search creates a permanent, undeletable audit trail.
EVERY search goes before an independent citizen review board each month. The officer and supervisor defend it. Every search also becomes public within 30 days, including who searched, what they searched and why. Protect victims and active investigations, but nothing else.
Deliberately misuse Flock? Immediate termination, permanent loss of law enforcement certification and a mandatory two-year prison sentence with no reduction for good behavior.
Every search should put your career and freedom on the line.
Tracking a murderer or kidnapper? Search away. You’ll have no trouble defending it.
Stalking your ex-wife?
You better be DAMN sure it’s worth two years in prison.
Would this result in far fewer searches? Absolutely.
THAT’S THE POINT.
And even then, I’m not sure I’d trust you. So pictures on milk cartons it will be, because police have earned this distrust through a long and sordid history of eff’d up flockery with surveillance technology.