Fort Myers Beach council ends Flock Safety camera contract over privacy concerns

Our Take

Credit to Gulf Coast News for catching this one: Fort Myers Beach's town council didn't just table a Flock Safety renewal, they killed the contract outright over privacy concerns. That's a meaningful data point. Most of these fights end with councils rubber-stamping another year of camera surveillance because a police chief says it "helps solve crimes." Fort Myers Beach said no thanks, and that matters far beyond one small Gulf Coast town.

These cameras don't just catch the car you're worried about, they log every plate that passes, building a searchable history of where residents go, when, and how often. That data sits in a database that can be queried, shared across agencies, or breached, with little in the way of binding local control once the contract is signed. A council willing to walk away from that arrangement, rather than quietly extend it, is doing something most elected bodies won't: admitting the tradeoff isn't worth it.

Wins like this don't happen without residents showing up and asking hard questions before the vote, which is exactly the playbook other towns can borrow. If you want to see whether Flock or similar ALPR systems are already running near you, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push your own council toward a similar vote, our take-action page has the tools to start.