Naples city leaders to vote on security upgrades at Charlie C. Anthony Park

Our Take

Gulf Coast News reports that Naples city leaders are poised to approve funding for security cameras and license plate readers at Charlie C. Anthony Park, pitched as a safety upgrade for the River Park neighborhoods. It's a familiar script: a local trouble spot, a quick council vote, and a park entrance quietly turned into a checkpoint that logs every vehicle coming and going, whether or not the driver has ever done anything wrong.

Parks are supposed to be the most open, unmonitored parts of a city — the place people take their kids without feeling cataloged. Once an ALPR goes in at the park, that data doesn't stay local. It typically flows into a shared Flock network that police agencies across the state and country can query, turning a single 'safety' camera into one node in a much larger tracking system with little public oversight over retention, access, or misuse.

If you want to see how far this has already spread in Florida and beyond, check our camera map, and if Naples residents want a say before the vote becomes permanent policy, our take-action page has steps for pushing back at the city council level.