Some Flock cameras in Jacksonville covered with plastic bags, but some residents want them removed
The short version: Jacksonville's Flock cameras got bagged instead of removed after a state order, proving that half-measures won't satisfy residents who want surveillance gear gone for good.
Our Take
Credit to News4JAX for catching what so many of these 'removal' stories turn out to be: theater. Florida DOT told Jacksonville the cameras had to go, and what residents got instead was a plastic bag zip-tied over a lens on a pole that's still bolted to public right-of-way, wiring intact, ready to be unwrapped the moment attention fades. That's not decommissioning, that's a pause button, and it tells you everything about how little leverage even a state agency's order carries against the inertia of an ALPR contract already in place.
The residents pushing back aren't being paranoid. A bagged camera is a camera that can be unbagged on a quiet Tuesday with no public notice, no new vote, no second chance for pushback. If the infrastructure stays, the surveillance capability stays, full stop. The only real win here is physical removal and a public commitment that the vendor relationship ends, not a tarp that makes the problem invisible while leaving the plate-reading network fully operational underneath.
If you want to know whether a Flock camera near you is active, bagged, or brand new, check our camera map, and if Jacksonville's half-measure is happening in your city too, our take-action page has the tools to push your council for the real thing: full removal, not a wardrobe change.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of News4JAX The Local Station, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.