Why Won't St. Lucie County Investigate Unpermitted Flock Cameras?

St. Lucie County, Florida, pulled a dozen Flock automated license plate reader cameras off county roads during a countywide takedown. Seven of them had no permit and no known owner. The county says it will not investigate who put them there, according to Ars Technica, which cited reporting by The Washington Post.

What happened to the unpermitted cameras?

The county found 12 Flock cameras installed without the required individual permits. Five were claimed by local law enforcement. Port St. Lucie Police Department and Fort Pierce Police Department came forward to say the cameras were theirs, Ars Technica reported. A Flock spokesperson told The Washington Post that a police department had mistakenly issued guidance suggesting officers could post multiple cameras under a single permit, even though county rules required one permit per camera. Neither Flock nor the two police departments will say which agency gave that guidance.

That leaves seven cameras unaccounted for. No agency or private owner has claimed them. The county gave all camera owners 30 days to remove their devices without facing questions about who they were or what they were doing, according to county spokesperson Erick Gill.

Why won't the county look into who owned them?

Gill told The Washington Post the county's objective was narrow: get the cameras off the right-of-way, not identify who put them there. "Our goal was to get the cameras out of the right-of-way within 30 days," Gill said. "We accomplished that goal."

Asked specifically about the seven cameras of unknown origin, Gill did not address them directly, repeating only that the county's directive was removal. The county says it lacks the resources to pursue the question further.

What does Flock say about the cameras it won't name?

Flock Safety, the company that manufactures and operates the camera network, did not respond to The Washington Post's emailed questions about who operated and removed the cameras or the permitting confusion, according to the Post's reporting cited by Ars Technica.

A Flock spokesperson did tell Ars Technica directly that the company knows who the customers were. "The cameras have been removed and belonged to several different customers," the spokesperson said. "Flock does not share specifics regarding individual agency contracts, camera counts, locations, or deployments."

That means Flock has the answer residents want. The company is choosing not to disclose it.

How much did the camera contract cost taxpayers?

The Port St. Lucie Police Department's Flock contract grew sharply before the county ordered removals:

• The contract cost $22,000 three years before the mandate.
• By 2025, the same contract had grown to $470,000.
• The county ordered camera removals from county roads the following year, in 2026.
• Of 12 unpermitted cameras found, 5 were claimed by city police departments and 7 remain unclaimed.

The county ended the nearly half-million-dollar contract as part of the removal effort, Gill told the Post, but has not opened any inquiry into the seven cameras still without an identified owner.

What are residents saying about the response?

Hannah Galindo, a 31-year-old St. Lucie County resident, petitioned to get the Flock cameras removed before learning several of them had no permit. She told the Post she worries the data those cameras collected could have gone anywhere. "That data could be anywhere," Galindo said.

"It sounds like when you do something wrong, and you don't want to get caught, and you kind of just want to sweep it under the rug." — Hannah Galindo, St. Lucie County resident

Her petition reflects broader unease about Flock's automated license plate reader network, which has drawn protests in other cities, including a demonstration outside Flock Safety's Boston offices in August, according to Ars Technica.

For now, the cameras are gone, the county contract is closed, and the identity of seven camera operators remains undisclosed. Flock says it has the records. St. Lucie County says finding out is not worth the resources it would take.