Future of Flock cameras limited in Manatee County

Commissioners took one small step toward limiting license plate reader cameras in unincorporated Manatee County. 

Commissioners unanimously agreed that moving forward, the Sheriff’s Office cannot install LPRs on any county-owned facilities, parks or buildings without first getting approval from the board.

Commissioner Bob McCann added “Flock cameras” to the Aug. 25 meeting’s agenda after receiving “hate mails” that the cameras are taking away people’s privacy. 

“They feel there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy in a public forum, which can be true or not true according to the Fourth Amendment,” McCann said. “There’s a lot of litigation going on over this nationwide. The authority that we have has to be differentiated from the Sheriff’s jurisdiction.” 

While the vote was unanimous, not all commissioners were adamantly opposed to the use of LPRs by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. 

Commissioner Mike Rahn encouraged his fellow commissioners to reach out to the Sheriff’s Office to see the operation firsthand. 

“I’m not defending Flock cameras,” Rahn said. “I’m defending what (Sheriff Rick Wells) is going through in trying to catch the bad guys and using the best technology he has because the first time he doesn’t catch a bad guy, a lot of people up here will be complaining that the Sheriff didn’t catch the bad guy.”

Rahn noted the guardrails Wells has put in place, such as deleting the collected information every 30 days. 

Other jurisdictions have opted to hang onto data for longer periods of time. The town of Longboat Key stores its data for 90 days. 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Rahn pointed to the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Raymond James Stadium as examples of recognition technology being used all over the place and outside of law enforcement. 

As of April, motorists can no longer pay bridge tolls using cash. LPRs photograph every vehicle that crosses the Sunshine Skyway; tolls are paid using SunPass or Toll-by-Plate. The latter system mails bills to the addresses associated with the captured license plates. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers launched “Express Entry” in August 2025, which allows visitors to quickly enter the stadium using facial recognition. A biometric policy, effective May 19, explains how the technology works and how the data is used.

The policy is vague in how long the data will be kept: “We will destroy or direct our authorized service providers to destroy biometric information within a reasonable time and in accordance with applicable law, but generally no later than 24 months after the date upon which the purpose for collecting and/or using the biometric identifier expires.”

However, there are two major differences to note between buying Buccaneers tickets and driving a motor vehicle. LPRs do not use facial recognition, and Buccaneers ticketholders can withdraw their consent from the program at any time. 

Wells told the East County Observer that LPRs only identify vehicles and license plates. The notion that the cameras use facial recognition is a myth.

‘We ain’t China.’

Commissioner Jason Bearden quickly dismissed the comparison between LPRs and Raymond James Stadium’s cameras because the latter comes with a choice, unlike an LPR mounted on the side of the road. 

“We ain’t China; this is the United States of America,” he said. “We need to figure out something where these (cameras) are completely gone.”

Bearden compared LPRs to the networks of surveillance cameras in China that are used to identify and investigate individuals. 

“What’s the next thing after Flock,” he asked. “When they update their system, now we’ve got facial recognition. Now, we’ve got all these other things that they’re doing — AI’s coming in, right? So, at what point in time do we have to take a stand and say that the citizens are being monitored?”

Bearden called it a “fine line.” But Rahn honed it on the benefits of the technology. 

“As much as I’m not in favor of all these cameras, I do think that there is a use for this,” he said.

Rahn noted an abducted child that was found and a bank robbery that was stopped in Sarasota because of Flock cameras. 

Sarasota Police officer Cory Waiters was arrested Aug. 19 for misusing the police department’s LPR database.

Rahn said there will always be “bad operators,” and Wells made it clear that any officer found to be misusing the system will be prosecuted. 

“I don’t trust Flock; I don’t trust any LPR,” Commission Chair Tal Siddique said. “The ability for Flock, in particular, to take this information, store it for I don’t know how long — and that’s inconsistent across jurisdictions — but then be able to track you across jurisdictions is just insane to me.” 

McCann suggested a formal public disclosure request from Flock and other vendors that would include the systems’ privacy safeguards, audit logs and transparency reports regarding how vendor-provided data is stored, shared and used. 

McCann didn’t question that MCSO dumps its data every 30 days, but he did question if the vendors do. 

You’re still on camera

Commissioners prohibited any future LPR installations on county property, but they don’t have the authority to prohibit installations on private property or to remove cameras. 

MCSO currently uses 134 LPRs across the county, of which 79 are Flock cameras.

County Attorney Pamela D’Agostino called the removal of cameras “problematic” because if the cameras are located, for example, in a county right-of-way, then those cameras are permitted to be there. 

D’Agostino said once infrastructure has been installed, cameras have been purchased and permits have been issued, the county would be facing legal risk to remove them. 

D’Agostino also noted that cameras owned by homeowners associations and private businesses can still allow the Sheriff’s Office to access its data. 

“That’s a private relationship that they have that we can’t inject ourselves into,” she said. 

Private property rights allow property owners to use LPRs if they desire to do so. Manatee County can’t regulate private property. 

D’Agostino said the county also cannot regulate anything within Florida Department of Transportation right-of-ways, municipality right-of-ways or on private streets. 

What the commission could and did regulate was administrative approvals for LPRs in county-owned parks and facilities. 

If the county administrator wants to install an LPR in a parking lot for fee collection purposes or if the Sheriff wants to install an LPR in a county park for law enforcement purposes, both those requests will now have to go before the commission for approval.

However, county-owned right-of-ways were not included because staff will need to review the current codes regarding right-of-way permits first. D’Agostino said the code might require an ordinance to prevent cameras from being installed. 

Commissioners were limited to only what is within their jurisdiction, and as County Administrator Charlie Bishop pointed out, not all county property is within unincorporated Manatee County. For example, G.T. Bray Park is located within the city of Bradenton. 

“Well, we’re working on it,” Siddique said.