St. Lucie County votes to remove all license plate readers after 14 found without permits

Event: September 17, 2026 · First reported: September 18, 2026 · 7 sources

St. Lucie County, Florida, commissioners voted to remove Flock and other automated license plate readers from county roads and to stop issuing new permits for them. Of 66 cameras the county says it knows about, 14 were installed without permits and officials say they have not identified who owns them. The county reported that all 52 previously authorized devices received revocation notices as of Monday, giving owners 30 days to take them down; officials said unpermitted cameras would be tagged with notices and bagged so they cannot operate.

Why this matters

The county says it cannot determine who installed 14 of the cameras on its roads, raising questions about permitting records and who controls ALPR infrastructure in public rights-of-way. The decision also offers other jurisdictions a template for revoking existing camera permits rather than only declining new ones.

Key facts

St. Lucie County commissioners voted to remove ALPRs from county roads and halt new permits.
Of 66 known cameras, 14 lack permits and county officials say ownership is unknown.
All 52 previously authorized devices received revocation notices as of Monday, with 30 days to remove them.
Commissioner James Clasby said the possibility of non-law-enforcement cameras operating in the county concerned him.
The article notes a Fort Pierce officer was fired over allegedly using Flock cameras to track an ex-girlfriend's car hundreds of times, and an Indian River County deputy was placed on paid leave amid accusations of unauthorized use; those matters are separate from the permitting issue.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (WEAU, September 18, 2026)
14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (FOX Carolina News, September 18, 2026)
14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (KSLA, September 18, 2026)
14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (Newsbreak, September 18, 2026)
14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (fox10tv.com, September 18, 2026)
14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (wbbjtv.com, September 18, 2026)
14 unpermitted Flock cameras found in one Florida county, and nobody is claiming them (WCJB, September 18, 2026)

More from Florida

Everything we have documented in Florida, or search every Florida article in the archive.

About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated September 23, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.