In a unanimous vote that sent shockwaves through Florida’s surveillance debate, Leon County Commissioners pulled a $440,000 agenda item that would have expanded Flock Safety license plate reader cameras throughout the county — after a packed crowd of citizens showed up to demand they do exactly that.
The funding, drawn from a regional public safety grant rather than local tax dollars, was stripped before it could be approved. Commission Chair Christian Caban made no attempt to soften the message: “I hate those damn cameras,” he told the crowd.
Speakers lined up to push back on what they called an unconstitutional surveillance dragnet. “Tracking thousands of innocent citizens who are just trying to drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to the grocery store is an overreach into our privacy,” said Devin Nobles, a computer engineer who addressed the Commission.
The Leon County decision is part of a rapidly growing backlash against Flock Safety across Florida. The state is home to nearly 7,500 Flock LPRs — one of the densest deployments in the country. Critics say the cameras create a “mosaic” of surveillance that effectively tracks the daily movements of innocent civilians without a warrant, without consent, and without meaningful oversight. There have also been documented instances of law enforcement officers misusing the system to track former partners, and some Flock footage has been found to be publicly accessible online.
The revolt is crossing political lines. Gubernatorial candidates Byron Donalds and James Fishback have both come out against the technology. Multiple candidates in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District race have called for an outright ban. Libertarians in Bay County held a protest last month under the banner “De-Flock Bay County.”
The tide in Florida appears to be turning — and Leon County just showed the rest of the state what a unanimous “no” looks like.
Hellbound and Down 