After St. Lucie County, Florida, decided to discontinue its use of Flock surveillance cameras and began removing them from public spaces, officials uncovered 14 additional devices that were not registered to any local agency. According to a report by The Washington Post, county leaders initially believed they had authorized 52 cameras. However, the discovery of the extra units revealed that three had been claimed by the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, though the department has not provided an explanation for why these specific pieces of equipment lacked proper paperwork.
This leaves 11 Flock cameras installed in the area with no identifiable owner and no official record of their deployment. The revelation has upset many residents, with several telling The Post that they felt unsafe and uneasy about the unauthorized surveillance.
Flock cameras have been under intense scrutiny regarding security vulnerabilities and potential privacy violations. Last month, the Florida Department of Transportation implemented a ban prohibiting law enforcement from mounting these license plate readers on state roads. While some municipal and state governments are moving away from the technology, more than 100,000 units remain in operation across the United States.
In response to the unauthorized installations, a county official informed The Post that notices were posted at each unclaimed camera directing owners to remove the devices. Until they are taken down, the cameras will be covered with plastic bags to stop further data collection. When a reporter visited the site of one unpermitted camera, they found it had already been removed, but there was no evidence of who took it down.
Classic bureaucratic mismanagement. Eleven secret cameras and nobody knows why? At least they’re bagging them now, but where were the checks?
This is deeply unsettling. Who installed these without oversight? I feel like I’m living in a panopticon with no accountability at all.