ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday to revoke the permits for all Flock Safety automatic license plate reader cameras on county roads.
The cameras have been a topic of ongoing debate statewide, and St. Johns County was one of the last districts in Northeast Florida to comply with an order from the FDOT to remove Flock cameras on state roads.
Until now, the cameras have remained on county roads, and St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick has been a vocal advocate for the benefits for law enforcement.
The Sheriff’s Office made a point of sharing recently that LPR technology helped track down an armed bank robbery suspect.
“The last case I’m going to bring up is an armed bank robbery that happened on Friday. Four days ago, he brought that business to St. Johns County and put that gun in her face. We caught him in 15 minutes because of this technology,” Howard Cole, Director of Criminal Investigations, said.
Hardwick has also cited 2026 department figures that include 29 stolen vehicles recovered, 23 stolen license tags recovered, 35 wanted people arrested, 62 people charged, 132 felony charges and 54 misdemeanor charges cleared, and 35 missing people recovered.
Hardwick has said license plate reader data is one investigative lead among many. The sheriff’s office released a statement on the vote.
This morning, October 20, the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of revoking use permits for license plate recognition [LPR] technology on county rights-of-way. This decision requires the removal of 89 LPRs located on county rights-of-way, however, an effective date for disabling the systems has not been determined. In September, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office removed 84 LPRs in accordance with the Florida Department of Transportation’s directive to remove LPRs on state rights-of-way. SJSO is in full compliance with that order. LPRs on private property and those operated by HOAs will remain unaffected.SJSO has consistently supported the responsible use of LPR technology, with safeguards in place. We have listened to community concerns, presented information, and corrected misinformation. We’ve enhanced controls, reduced data retention and access, limited information sharing, strengthened auditing, monitoring, and oversight to ensure compliance and prevent misuse.We believe public safety and personal privacy can coexist and disagree with the decision made by the county commission to remove LPRs. We are confident this will ultimately affect the safety of our community. “𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘗𝘙 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. 𝘈𝘴 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 - 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘓𝘗𝘙 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘵. 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺,” 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘈. 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. SJSO supports collaboration efforts for the development of legislation that establishes clear standards for use and addresses concerns about this valuable technology.
St. Johns County Sheriff's Office
At a September budget hearing, he and sheriff’s office officials said the department had shortened its data-retention period to 30 days, limited system access and ended sharing data with outside agencies. They also said the system does not use facial recognition or collect cellphone data.
Residents raised concerns about privacy, data retention, false reads and the possibility of someone being wrongly accused of a crime based on a camera error.
“I think a lot of it comes down to my children. They drive now and the thought of them being pulled over at gunpoint in the middle of the interstate with semis flying by and stuff like that,” Kaleigh Masters, a St. Johns County resident, said.
“We do live in a technological age, but I think we need to be careful. I’m a little scared of the ramifications of AI and it probably bleeds over into this,” said Dan Palmer, a resident.
But one comment stood out. It came from the parents of Tristyn Bailey — a 13-year-old cheerleader who was murdered by her classmate.
“I can tell you that on that day when my daughter was missing and we were trying to understand how she could just be brought home, that was the first I’d heard of license plate readers. And knowing that that was a tool available to our law enforcement and that if my daughter was with someone, they could potentially be found gave me hope,” Forrest Bailey, Tristyn’s father, said.
In the end, the St. Johns County Commission voted to side with those privacy concerns, saying LPRs will not be permitted on county roads moving forward.
Commissioner Sarah Arnold said she wanted to temporarily stop the cameras, hoping to work with legal staff and the legislative delegation to make the program safer and more protective of residents’ rights.
Commissioner Whitehurst was also open to temporarily taking them down while the state looks further into its effects.
Commissioner Krista Joseph, however, wanted to keep the cameras with stronger safeguards in place.
Chairman Clay Murphy said he did not want to suspend them while those safeguards were being determined.
No timeline was discussed for the removal of the cameras.