Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers are coming down across the United States and especially in Florida’s Panhandle as privacy concerns overtake the technology’s crime-fighting claims.
As of September 8, 2026, dozens of cities and counties have canceled contracts, covered cameras with trash bags, or simply unplugged the devices.
Florida’s statewide order to remove them from state highways has accelerated the trend in the Panhandle.
Flock cameras photograph every passing vehicle’s license plate, make, model, and location, then store the data in a searchable network that police departments can query.
The company now operates more than 100,000 cameras nationwide. Supporters, including many sheriffs, say the systems help recover stolen cars, locate missing people, and solve violent crimes.
Critics argue they create a warrantless, always-on tracking network that records the movements of millions of innocent drivers and has been misused for immigration enforcement, stalking, and other unauthorized purposes.
National backlash
Trackers maintained by privacy groups show the cancellations accelerating through the summer. One compilation lists more than 190 contract endings by early September. Another counts at least 56 municipalities that deactivated, rejected, or canceled Flock systems in 2026 alone, with California, Wisconsin, and Texas among the leaders.
Cities such as Tempe, Arizona; Dayton, Ohio; and Los Angeles have turned cameras off or let contracts expire after audits found data shared with federal agencies without local authorization or officers using the system to track romantic partners.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott froze state funding for the cameras, prompting Dallas to announce it would take 321 units offline. Flock has responded by shortening default data retention from 30 days to seven and adding audit features, but civil-liberties groups call the changes insufficient.
Florida’s statewide order and the Panhandle response
On August 31 the Florida Department of Transportation revoked every permit allowing license-plate readers on state highway rights-of-way, citing an “exponential increase” in deployments plus “concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes.”
Agencies have 30 days to remove the devices or FDOT will take them down itself.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida does not want “a digital AI surveillance state where everything we’re doing is being tracked at all times.”
In the Panhandle the order produced immediate and broader action.
Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford announced on September 1 that his office was suspending all automated license-plate-reader use, not just the cameras on state roads. “This was not an easy decision,” Ford wrote.
The cameras had helped find dangerous criminals, recover stolen vehicles, and manage spring-break crowds, he said, “but public trust matters.” The sheriff’s office will wait for the Legislature to set clear statewide rules. Panama City Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez issued a similar statement the same day, ending the city’s use of its Flock network.
Panama City’s Community Redevelopment Agency voted to defund 25 cameras it paid for; city commissioners are scheduled to discuss the remaining units this week. Other Panhandle agencies have followed the same path.
A resident-led petition to “de-flock” Bay County had already collected more than 900 signatures earlier in the year, reflecting local unease that predated the state order.
Law-enforcement officials across the region emphasize they used the technology under written policies and that data was deleted after 30 days unless needed for a case.
Privacy advocates counter that the mere existence of a searchable location history for every vehicle is the problem, regardless of internal rules.
The next few weeks will show how quickly the physical cameras come down and whether the Florida Legislature writes new limits or simply leaves the technology off state roads.
