Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered the state to terminate its partnership with Flock Safety, a move that will strip roughly 700 license plate reader cameras from state roads by the end of September.
The order applies only to cameras operated through the state’s contract with Flock. It does not force city or county governments to remove their own license plate reader systems, leaving local agencies free to keep running independent camera networks.
The Florida Department of Transportation laid out the state’s reasoning in a letter announcing the decision, pointing to the rapid spread of the technology and mounting reports of misuse.
“Exponential increase in deployments coupled with concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes,” the letter reads.
The cameras, made by Flock Safety, scan and log vehicle license plates as they pass, building a searchable record of where a vehicle has traveled. Law enforcement agencies have defended the technology as a useful investigative tool, but civil liberties advocates and a growing number of lawmakers say the systems amount to a form of mass surveillance with too few safeguards on who can access the data and why.
Those concerns were sharpened by a case in Florida in which a sheriff’s deputy allegedly used the Flock system to track an ex-romantic partner. The incident drew national attention as an example of how the technology could be turned toward personal, unauthorized purposes rather than the public safety functions it was built for.
Florida’s decision to unwind its state-level Flock program is one of the largest actions taken so far by any state against the company’s expanding footprint. It comes as skepticism of automated surveillance networks has started to draw support from across the political spectrum, uniting privacy-minded voters and officials who otherwise disagree sharply on law enforcement policy.
Florida is not acting alone. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered a halt to all state funding for Flock-related programs, another sign that Republican governors are beginning to rein in the technology’s growth.
For now, the practical effect in Florida is limited to the roughly 700 cameras tied to the state’s own contract. Cities and counties will each decide independently whether to keep operating their own license plate reader systems, meaning the broader debate over the balance between investigative tools and personal privacy is far from settled.
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