Flock Safety cameras still in Fort Myers Beach, Florida as town awaits removal

Our Take

Gulf Coast News has a simple, damning fact: the cameras were supposed to come down, and they haven't. That gap between a town's decision and a company's compliance is the story here, and it's one worth sitting with. When a private surveillance vendor controls the hardware watching your public roads, "removal" isn't instant — it's apparently whenever Flock Safety gets around to it. That's not a technical hiccup, that's a power imbalance.

Fort Myers Beach has exactly two bridges onto the island, which means these cameras weren't some supplemental tool — they were a complete dragnet on every vehicle entering or leaving. A town council vote to end that arrangement should mean the cameras go dark immediately, not whenever it's convenient for the contractor. The fact that residents are still being logged a month later says a lot about who's really in the driver's seat once these systems get installed.

Credit to Gulf Coast News for keeping a camera on the cameras and holding the timeline to account. This is exactly the kind of local accountability reporting that keeps towns from becoming surveillance infrastructure by default. If you want to see what's watching you, check our map, and if your town is dragging its feet on removal like Fort Myers Beach, our take-action guide has steps for pushing back.