Florida’s push this week to remove Flock cameras and other automated license-plate readers from state roadways is now a campaign issue in a contentious Central Florida race for the Florida Senate.
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Incumbent Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, said early Wednesday he intends to file legislation banning Flock cameras and similar devices statewide. An hour later, Maitland Mayor John Lowndes, the Democrat in the District 10 race, said he has placed an item banning them in his city on the Sept. 14 council agenda.
Brodeur said that while wary of taking tools away from law enforcement — who have called them a successful crime-fighting tool — he was worried that the devices, and the data they collect, could violate someone’s right to privacy. He wants a “statewide approach” that might allow the cameras’ use but with a law that was explicit on how the data could be kept, used and how those who abuse it would be punished. So he said he intends to file legislation that would ban Flock and other cameras as they are currently deployed on public roads.
“There’s no doubt that we’ve apprehended some very serious criminals by using these things … but at what expense?” he said. “That’s not very American to be scanning 99.9% of the rest who have done nothing wrong.”
Lowndes said in a statement he has reached a similar conclusion. “There has to be a line between giving law enforcement useful tools and building a system that can track the movements of ordinary, law-abiding citizens,” he said.
The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis opened the week ordering the cameras be removed from state roads within 30 days, citing worries they were being misused and were wrongly collecting too much personal data. Then, numerous local and law enforcement officials — in some cases, begrudgingly — released statements saying they would stop the use of them in their jurisdictions, too.
The cameras have been the subject of debate and derision, as reports have surfaced of some police officers abusing the data they collect to spy on exes, and a growing group of citizens raising fears the devices allow government to intrude on their rights to privacy.
In recent years, they’ve been posted on roadways across Central Florida and the country. They capture photos of every passing vehicle, documenting the tag number, make, model, color and even unique markings like dents and bumper stickers. Law enforcement agencies say they help them more quickly find violent criminals and missing persons, notings they aided the capture of the man later convicted of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at a Palm Beach golf club.
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The cameras are most commonly created by Flock Safety but they are also manufactured by several other companies. Flock, responding to growing privacy concerns of the AI-powered devices, recently changed its default setting so data was stored for a more limited time.
The concern and outcry about the devices has created unlikely political alliances. For instance, DeSantis, a conservative Republican, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a liberal independent, both want them banned.
And locally, so do Brodeur and Lowndes, who are squaring off in a closely watched Senate race to represent a district spanning all of Seminole County as well as the Orange cities of Winter Park and Maitland.
Monday’s announcement by the Florida Department of Transportation ending the cameras use on state roads quickly led to sweeping actions across the state. By the end of Tuesday, more than a dozen Central Florida jurisdictions had backed away from the cameras, That includes Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties.
However, that hadn’t spread to Orange County, where Sheriff John Mina said his agency would comply with state rules but still use the readers where legal to do so. He defended them as crucial to their fight against crime, saying they allow deputies to track down perpetrators more quickly.
If Lowndes is successful, Maitland would be the first jurisdiction in Orange to publicly back away from them.
“I understand why law enforcement values these cameras, and I take seriously the argument that they can help solve crimes and catch dangerous people,” Lowndes said in his statement. But that doesn’t justify violations of residents’ rights, he added. “After looking carefully at this issue, I believe Flock cameras cross that line.”
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