Sheriff Rob Hardwick on License Plate Readers in SJC #stjohnscounty #licenseplaterecognition #flock

Our Take

When a local news outlet hands the mic to a sheriff to talk about license plate readers, you tend to get one side of the story: the crime-solving wins, the community-safety talking points, the reassurance that it's all under control. The 904 Now's short clip with St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick fits that pattern. These segments are useful for knowing what law enforcement wants the public to believe about Flock Safety's network, but they rarely include the harder questions — who audits the search logs, how long is footage retained, and what happens when access gets abused or data gets shared with agencies outside the county.

That's the recurring problem with ALPR coverage nationwide: the pitch comes from the people selling or deploying the system, not from residents who had no say in whether a camera went up on their street. St. Johns County is just one more jurisdiction added to a surveillance network that now blankets thousands of communities, often installed with little public debate and even less transparency about how the data is used once it's collected.

We credit The 904 Now for putting the topic in front of local viewers, but a five-minute clip from a sheriff isn't oversight — it's a press release with a badge. If you want to see whether St. Johns County shows up on the map of known Flock deployments, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for your local news to ask the tough questions, our take-action resources walk you through how to push for answers yourself.