{"id":161980,"date":"2026-02-20T01:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/161980\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:09:12","slug":"tampa-council-approves-school-zone-speed-cameras-with-ties-to-flock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/161980\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa council approves school zone speed cameras with ties to Flock"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposal for school zone speed cameras stirred concerns about surveillance at a Tampa City Council meeting Thursday.<\/p>\n

Council members approved an agreement in a 6-1 vote with the speed camera company RedSpeed Florida through an existing contract with the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Council member Bill Carlson voted no.<\/p>\n

RedSpeed is \u201cintegrated\u201d with Flock Safety, a tech company that deploys automated license plate readers for use by law enforcement, according to a proposal from the company.<\/p>\n

But Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a memo that state and local laws would prohibit RedSpeed from sharing data with Flock.<\/p>\n

Tampa\u2019s decision comes as residents across the nation urge local leaders to ditch Flock products, citing fears of mass surveillance and concerns that the information collected could be used to aid federal immigration enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n

Flock says it does not contract directly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, although local agencies can share data they get from Flock with federal immigration agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like Flock, and I\u2019m worried about what is coming in our country,\u201d council member Lynn Hurtak said. \u201cBut the safeguards around it, and the importance of the school zones, at this point, outweighs it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The piggyback agreement means Tampa will join Hillsborough County in working with RedSpeed Florida to reduce speeding in school zones, according to an agenda document. The program comes at no cost to the city. For every $100 civil penalty paid, Tampa will get $39.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 proposal for the Hillsborough sheriff\u2019s office, RedSpeed Florida noted its relationship to Flock.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have collaborated closely with Flock to optimize interoperability, and our intuitive software is already in use across the state,\u201d read the proposal, adding that \u201conly RedSpeed can offer integration with Flock.\u201d Flock is \u201cincluded in the RedSpeed price,\u201d the proposal said.<\/p>\n

For some, that languageraised alarms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we merrily going along with erecting a surveillance state?\u201d Rick Fifer asked council members during public comment. \u201cNo to these cameras, no to cooperating with ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that the Tampa Police Department participates in the 287(g) program<\/a>, an ICE initiative that lets local officers perform limited immigration agent functions.<\/p>\n

Longtime community advocate Connie Burton said the program \u201cmight start off with good intentions, but where would that data go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bercaw, in a memo, said state statute and the city\u2019s code \u201cwould prohibit the sharing of the RedSpeed camera data with Flock, or any other vendor, as a speed detection system in Florida is prohibited from being used for remote surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RedSpeed cameras won\u2019t incorporate automated license plate readers, he said.<\/p>\n

The proposal for the Hillsborough sheriff\u2019s office created confusion, Bercaw said, because it \u201cwas designed for Georgia and not Florida law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Parks, who works with RedSpeed Florida, said the company \u201chas no relationship with ICE.\u201d RedSpeed works with roughly 50 communities across Florida at no expense to taxpayers, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeeding is down 90% and less than 10% of people get a second ticket,\u201d Parks said. \u201cIt\u2019s dramatically improved safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tampa was among the first Florida municipalities to implement a 2023 state law that allowed speed cameras in school zones. City Council members in 2024 approved their installation<\/a> around more than a dozen schools.<\/p>\n

Council member Alan Clendenin was the lone vote against the cameras that year. Automated law enforcement was \u201ca slippery slope,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Council members openly grappled with the decision Thursday.<\/p>\n

Hurtak spoke about the federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlock cameras have played a large part in that,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m having a very hard time approving anything that has to do with Flock in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

For council member Luis Viera, \u201cthis is only something that\u2019s going to go for the protection of children, for public safety and issues like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clendenin said he doesn\u2019t \u201clike the government having this kind of technology,\u201d but that he has been \u201cinundated\u201d with public comment in support of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho am I,\u201d he said, \u201cto stand in front of what people want?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A proposal for school zone speed cameras stirred concerns about surveillance at a Tampa City Council meeting Thursday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3368,2153,77526,28,5320,4186,4620,4180,135,610,137,136,3793],"class_list":{"0":"post-161980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-council-member","9":"tag-council-members","10":"tag-flock-safety","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-redspeed","13":"tag-school-zone","14":"tag-speed-camera","15":"tag-speed-cameras","16":"tag-tampa","17":"tag-tampa-city-council","18":"tag-tampa-headlines","19":"tag-tampa-news","20":"tag-tampa-police-department"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}