The Florida Department mandated that all license plate readers be removed from county roads by September 30th. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) said it would remove its readers, most of which are Flock Safety units, from all county roads.
Two weeks past the deadline, the status of CCSO’s Flock-powered surveillance network is unclear. Some cameras along state roads have been removed, but the poles they were mounted on remain.
The remaining cameras on county roads remain in place, though some appear to have had their lenses covered with tape.
Further complicating the issue is CCSO’s refusal to answer questions about the cameras and a confusing statement from its public records department.
Clay News & Views requested records on audits of users' access to Flock’s systems and data. Instead of the audit logs, we received a response stating that user access to the Flock system has been “suspended” and that all agency-run ALPRs are no longer in use.
Clay News & Views first reported on the Flock surveillance cameras when they were installed in 2023. In response, Sheriff Cook said her agency would no longer answer CN&V's questions. Instead, they would direct CN&V to submit questions as public records requests.
Government agencies, law enforcement, or otherwise, are not legally required to answer questions from media outlets. In response to records requests, they are only obligated to provide documents that already exist.
By directing questions to be submitted as public records requests, CCSO has created a loophole that lets it avoid answering questions without breaking any laws while appearing responsive to media requests.
CCSO has also not issued any additional statements via its social media channels. CN&V contacted the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and advised them that several cameras along State Road 21, aka Blanding Boulevard, are still up.
FDOT offered no comment other than what was already stated in their memo from August 31.
With no updates and cameras still in place, Clay residents have taken to social media to question the status of Sheriff Cook’s surveillance network. Some wondered if Clay County was quietly planning to switch to a competitor of Flock’s to circumvent the FDOT mandate.
CCSO has a $12 million contract with Axon, which provides cameras and services similar to Flock, along with body cameras, tasers, and the software and hardware to run “real-time crime centers.”
CN&V confirmed through public records that the current Axon contract does not include services or hardware that could replace Flock, and that no conversations are currently documented to add those services to the contract.
Despite that news, questions remain about the future of AI-powered surveillance in Clay County.
First, why are the poles still up for the cameras that have been removed? Have the cameras been returned to Flock? Each pole has a sticker stating it is Flock’s property, as shown in this picture.
Sheriff Cook may be waiting for the results of the upcoming Gubernatorial election. Both Democrat David Jolly and Republican Byron Donalds have taken a soft stance on Flock.
Neither supports an outright ban, and either candidate could reverse current Governor Ron DeSantis's directive that led to the FDOT memo.
If the next governor allows the camera to return to state roads, leaving the poles up would allow the cameras to be quickly reinstalled.
CCSO’s confirmation that access to Flock has been suspended, rather than revoked, lends more credence to the possibility that Sheriff Cook and CCSO are waiting out the election rather than removing the cameras altogether.
Yes, she is. But I'm petitioning the community to put pressure on her to take them down. I'll be sending a letter to her with a records request demanding she provide communications with Flock containing the cancelation and order to remove the cameras, if applicable. I also want answers from her directly on why her office itself isn't able to remove them itself. If that all fails I'll be petitioning the Clay County board of commissioners to hold Sheriff Michelle Cook accountable to her own memo stating they would be removed from all Clay County roads. Note that the memo said REMOVED, not suspended. The people of Clay County will not tolerate these games.