FDOT orders that license plate readers, including Flock cameras, be removed from state roads
The short version: Florida's DOT reportedly told agencies to pull license plate readers off state roads, a rare bureaucratic check on Flock's unchecked expansion, as 10 Tampa Bay News reports.
Our Take
Credit to 10 Tampa Bay News for surfacing this: a state transportation agency apparently telling police departments and Flock Safety that cameras bolted onto state right-of-way infrastructure aren't automatically fair game. That's notable because most ALPR fights happen in city council chambers or courtrooms after the fact — not from the agency that controls the poles and road signs the cameras get zip-tied to.
We've said it before: Flock's growth has outpaced any real oversight, with networks popping up because a police chief signed a contract, not because anyone asked whether the public right-of-way should double as a surveillance backbone. If FDOT's order holds up, it's a reminder that permitting and right-of-way rules can be leverage points communities haven't fully used yet. It won't dismantle the dragnet, but it slows down the assumption that every stretch of asphalt is open territory for a camera.
If you want to see how dense this network already is in your area, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for a state agency to do the work, our take-action page has steps for pushing back locally.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 10 Tampa Bay News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.