ST. LUCIE COUNTY — St. Lucie County commissioners voted 3-2 to stop issuing county permits for Flock cameras and other automated vehicle identification systems, following a state directive to remove the cameras from Florida highways.
Commissioner James Clasby asked the board to take action after the Florida Department of Transportation and Gov. Ron DeSantis directed the removal of Flock cameras from state highways. Clasby said he believes the county should also reconsider allowing the technology on property it controls.
"I'm not sure that everybody used those words as seriously as I do, but those are very serious concerns, in my opinion, to 'threaten Floridian sovereignty' coming from our Department of Transportation. I believe that this board also needs to take action," he said. "What I'm asking the board to do here tonight is to immediately stop issuing county permits, approvals, or permissions for flock cameras, automated license plate readers, and any other automated vehicle identification or tracking system, regardless of the manufacturer or brand within county-owned or county-controlled rights of way on other property owned or controlled by St. Lucie County."
Clasby said he is concerned about the information collected by the cameras and who can access it. He also proposed a 30-day period for the county to pursue removal of existing cameras.
"The proposed 30-day notice that I'm suggesting mirrors the period FDOT selected for its own removals. The motion does not ask staff to ignore contracts, notice requirements, or due process. It directs staff to use every lawful step available to accomplish the removal," he said.
Clasby said the county would follow applicable procedures when addressing existing cameras.
"That means that if there's additional things that need to happen, those will happen. Okay, this is just delivering to the public and codifying the board's policy direction," he said.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro said in a written statement that the Sheriff's Office would comply with FDOT's directive. Del Toro also announced tighter restrictions on the use of license plate reader technology, limiting it to certain investigations with prior approval.
Clasby said those changes did not go far enough because they did not address whether the county should continue allowing the cameras in county-controlled rights of way.
"I appreciate the sheriff acknowledging in his letter that there's legit concerns and that he's made additional restrictions and policies for the use of the cameras, but that policy statement doesn't address whether we should continue to allow them in the right away at this time," he said.
Clasby said his proposal was not an accusation against local law enforcement or a claim that the technology is unconstitutional.
"I'm comfortable following the actions of the various counties and cities and other police agencies shown here," he said. "I'm not in any way saying that our law enforcement officers are doing anything wrong at all. This proposal is not an allegation that St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office or its deputies or any local agency has misused the Flock technology. This proposal does not assert that automated license plate reader technology is unconstitutional, although some may think that it is and maybe I do. The policy question is whether the county should allow Flock cameras, automated license plate readers, or any other automated vehicle identification or tracking system, regardless of manufacturer or brand, to occupy county-controlled rights of way."
Commissioners Erin Lowry and Larry Leet supported Clasby's proposal, while Commissioners Kathy Townsend and Commission Chair Jamie Fowler expressed concerns about approving the measure without public notice or hearing from local law enforcement.
Townsend said she wanted more information before making a decision and cited a recent case in which she said Flock cameras helped law enforcement identify a suspect quickly.
"I'm on the fence with this for a couple reasons. I don't know that we can make a motion tonight and decide this because it wasn't advertised on the agenda. But the other thing for me also is I personally would like to have conversation with the sheriff and the police chiefs," she said. "I concur with what y'all are saying and I agree but I also feel that there is merit in this because I know of a case most recently that happened within 30 minutes because the Flock cameras the gentleman was caught and didn't kill somebody."
Townsend said she wants the county's law enforcement leaders to explain how the technology is used.
"You know the Flock cameras are a little bit more aggressive, but everything I've done and researched is they don't look at people and all that they are there to scan the tags like the turnpike. I would like to have conversations. I would like for Sheriff Del Toro and the two police chiefs to come in and let the three head of law enforcement in the county educate us a little bit more on this before I made a decision," she said.
Fowler also raised concerns about the process used to bring the issue before the board.
"One thing I would support tonight is not issuing any more but I have to tell you I've read the attorney general opinion and in that opinion while again he said it's yeah you can do it any controversial matters coming before the board where the public has not been given notice that it'll be discussed is almost like a violation of their sunshine rights," she said. "I'm not debating that with anybody I'm just saying it makes me very uncomfortable to do this without the public's knowledge last minute."
Clasby said he had discussed the proposal with the county attorney and argued that the public had not been given an opportunity to weigh in when the cameras were initially permitted.
"I've vetted this whole thing through the county attorney and something that we need to keep in mind is the public was not asked if the public would like to have Flock cameras in the right way so I think that that is not a good argument against this," he said.
The measure passed 3-2. The county commission is expected to receive an update on the matter during its Sept. 15 meeting.