St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office to remove Flock cameras on state highways

Our Take

Credit to Action News Jax (CBS47/FOX30) for catching this one: a Florida sheriff's office is actually pulling Flock cameras back from state highways rather than adding more. That's notable because the usual trend in ALPR coverage is expansion, not retreat — agencies rarely volunteer to scale back a surveillance network once it's live.

We don't know the full backstory here — whether this is about permitting authority on state-owned roads, a legal technicality, or quiet pushback from residents and officials who asked harder questions. What we do know is that these systems don't install themselves without someone signing off, and they don't come down without someone noticing and pushing back. That's the whole game: sunlight and scrutiny. When local reporters and residents start asking who approved a camera, under what authority, and what happens to the data it collects, sometimes the answer is that the deployment wasn't as buttoned-up as the sales pitch suggested.

St. Johns County isn't the only place running Flock gear on public roads — check our camera map to see what's been documented near you, and if you want to push your own local agency for answers, our take-action guide walks through how to start.