Oviedo Council members on Monday ordered city staff to immediately remove all eight Flock cameras that were positioned along public roads at the city’s boundaries after about two dozen residents spoke out against the technology.
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Council members also agreed to stop funding the program, part of a growing statewide trend.
“I know some residents are going to be upset to not have them anymore, because they do offer some benefits,” Mayor Megan Sladek.
But she and other Council members said they did not feel comfortable with how or what data captured by the cameras in Oviedo is shared with other law enforcement agencies across the state.
Their actions came hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration order similar devices removed from state roads, citing fears of “misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes.” Similar debates about the crime-fighting benefits verus the dangers of ever-present surveillance have erupted across the state and nation.
In Altamonte Springs, the city’s police department announced late Monday night that it also was suspending its use of Flock cameras. The city has used the technology — also known as ALPR — for more than a decade, according to a statement released by its police department, and it is “an invaluable tool that provides investigators with timely information that saves lives, protects property and victims and helps apprehend offenders.”
But the police department added, “We also understand the importance of public trust” and given the concerns it decided to stop using the technology after “listening to the concerns people have regarding privacy, access to ALPR information, data retention, information sharing and the safeguards necessary to prevent unauthorized access or misuse.”
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma also announced late Monday that his agency was suspending its use of the technology, which it has used for years. The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office has about 105 Flock cameras set up across the county and credited them with helping to find offenders and missing people.
Oviedo resident Tara Hill called the Flock cameras an “automated mass surveillance” system. She added, “It’s treating all free citizens as potential suspects.”
But former Oviedo Police Chief Jeffrey Chudnow spoke in favor of the cameras as a valuable law enforcement tool when searching for a murder suspect or missing person.
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“If you have a child that’s been kidnapped, how fast do you want the police to respond?” he said.
At the city meeting, Karl Bach, a public affairs official for Flock, pointed out the technology has been used since the 1970s. But it has since become more affordable for law enforcement agencies in smaller cities and counties and more popular as a crime-fighting tool.
Oviedo’s cameras were put up in February after the council approved a 60-month lease agreement with the company nearly a year ago. To date, the city has spent roughly $32,800 on the program.
The police chief said last month the technology had helped solve a number of crimes, including a domestic violence case against a pregnant woman and a series of burglaries and auto thefts.
But as Oviedo council members shared residents’ fears about the data collected by the “automatic license plate recognition” program, Bach, the Flock official, defended the company.
“Flock does not sell the data,” he said. “We don’t own the rights to the data. The agency owns the data….We don’t know who is in the vehicle. We cannot track a vehicle.”
Council member Natalie Teuchert responded that Flock’s software cannot prevent another law enforcement agency from using its data inappropriately, even if Oviedo has strict rules for its police officers.
“I think everyone understands that we want to find children who are missing. We want to tackle crime that is a problem, and we want our officers to have the best tools,” she said. “But you are messing with the trust of our police department because your software is not trustworthy.”
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