![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0727_bn9_flock_cameras_gunn3.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014\u00a0If you\u2019re driving around Pinellas County and several other counties in the area, there\u2019s a chance you\u2019ve spotted one of those Flock cameras or one has spotted you in your vehicle\u2019s license plate.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something law enforcement officials refer to as a tool, but a local man says it\u2019s more like an invasion of privacy, so he\u2019s protesting to have them removed.<\/p>\n
For years, local law enforcement has maintained these Flock cameras are only used to scan license plates and that privacy shouldn\u2019t be expected on a public road. Still,\u00a0Carl Gunn wants them gone, as he sits in a chair to protest these cameras.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna be out here on Saturday protesting this camera system,\u201d Gunn said.<\/p>\n
Gunn first started his protest a few weeks ago in front of different Flock cameras. Since then, things have taken off. With all the attention, he\u2019s hoping his message is getting across.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A sign that Carl Gunn has used to protest flock cameras. (Spectrum News\/Saundra Weathers)<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like it because we\u2019re being tracked, and if we\u2019re gonna track us, that\u2019s against our constitutional rights,” Gunn said. “And I have a right to move about this country free without somebody looking over my shoulder.”<\/p>\n
Gunn is concerned about privacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI basically sit in a nice comfortable chair, and I have a 14-foot pole that I can raise up and put in front of the camera. It has \u2018down with flock cameras\u2019 written on it so that\u2019s what the Flock camera sees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A map shows that dozens of Flock cameras exist all over the city and county. Spectrum News asked St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch about the cameras and concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I can tell you is that we used technology to keep the community safe. I saw that live as we were trying to catch a murderer in our city. So, let\u2019s get all the facts on the table and see what the concerns are and if there are any gaps we need to address,\u201d Welch said.<\/p>\n
For Gunn, his message to those making decisions on the cameras is clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want these cameras off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a request the mayor says is new to his office. But it\u2019s a request Gunn said he\u2019ll continue to make in a very public way.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News reached out to the company that makes Flock cameras and didn’t heard back.<\/p>\n
When asked to comment about the advantages of the cameras and privacy concerns, the St. Pete Police Department and the Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014\u00a0If you\u2019re driving around Pinellas County and several other counties in the area, there\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2967,115,596,277,4368,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,835],"class_list":["post-354581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-public-safety","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-public-safety","tag-saundra-weathers","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354581","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=354581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}