{"id":343871,"date":"2026-07-17T20:54:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343871\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T20:54:35","slug":"tampa-expands-cameras-in-school-zones-but-wont-share-data-with-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343871\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Expands Cameras in School Zones, but Won’t Share Data With ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

(TNS) \u2014 Speed cameras are coming to school zones across Tampa<\/a>, stirring questions about surveillance.<\/p>\n

Months after approving a contract with the speed camera company RedSpeed Florida, Tampa City Council members on Thursday voted unanimously to expand the use of cameras in school zones citywide. The vote added six schools to the list of a dozen already slated to receive the cameras.<\/p>\n

For some residents and council members, the speed camera contract raised concerns about mass surveillance and fears that the information collected could be used to aid federal immigration enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n

RedSpeed has ties to Flock Safety<\/a>, a tech company that deploys automated license plate readers for use by law enforcement, according to a proposal from the company. While Flock says it does not contract directly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, local agencies can share Flock-collected data with federal immigration agencies.<\/p>\n

Tampa Police Deputy Chief Patrick Messmer told council members that the camera company will not share data with Flock, nor use Flock technology. Doing so would violate state and local laws, he said.<\/p>\n

Messmer cited a signed affidavit from RedSpeed CEO Robert Liberman stating that the cameras \u201chave no hardware or software associated in any way with Flock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is going to be no data sharing,\u201d Messmer said. \u201cThere is going to be no retention of the data that was captured by the cameras unless there is a violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approved in a 6-1 vote in February<\/a>, the city\u2019s piggyback agreement with Hillsborough County means Tampa will work with RedSpeed Florida to reduce speeding in school zones. The program comes at no cost to the city. For every $100 civil penalty, Tampa will get $39.<\/p>\n

Messmer said the city is working to obtain permits for the cameras, which are not yet installed.<\/p>\n

A previous city ordinance listed 12 school areas, concentrated in East and West Tampa, set to receive the cameras. After RedSpeed conducted a school zone speed study in April, the city expanded that list to 18, spanning all corners of Tampa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really glad this is not just going to be policing majority-minority communities,\u201d council member Lynn Hurtak said.<\/p>\n

The confusion about Flock stemmed from a 2024 RedSpeed proposal for the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office, in which the company 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

In a memo in February, Tampa Police Chief\u00a0Lee Bercaw<\/a> said the proposal was designed for Georgia law, not Florida. The RedSpeed cameras won\u2019t incorporate automated license plate readers, he said.<\/p>\n

Still, council members wanted more details.<\/p>\n

Council member Bill Carlson asked whether the camera footage, collected during school hours, will be deleted or kept by the police department. Messmer said it will be deleted after 30 days, unless someone breaks the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople just in general don\u2019t like having government surveil them,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

Resident Brock Mangus agreed. \u201cMany of us Tampa residents want to live in a neighborhood with our family and neighbors, and not with Big Brother,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other council members said they heard strong community support for the cameras ahead of Thursday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to a school zone during pickup and drop-off, and you\u2019re going an excess of 10 miles per hour over the speed limit,\u201d council member Luis Viera said, \u201cyou\u2019ve got it coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Tampa Bay Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(TNS) \u2014 Speed cameras are coming to school zones across Tampa, stirring questions about surveillance. Months after approving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-343871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343871","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=343871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}