Kissimmee Police Chief Charles Broadway said<\/a> the cameras provided evidence that conflicted with Stephen Stearns\u2019 alibi and helped secure a life sentence in the case.<\/p>\nA violation of privacy?<\/p>\n
But earlier this month at a pair of city council meetings in Seminole, residents bashed the devices as overly intrusive and a threat to trust between the public and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information can be used to track profiles of people,\u201d resident Ashtin Garner said at an Oviedo Council meeting. \u201cWhat are your habits?\u201d<\/p>\n
A day later in Altamonte Springs, one man opposing the cameras declined to provide his address \u2014 standard practice among public commenters at government meetings \u2014 positing that the city\u2019s police department could find it easily if it was wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI passed no fewer than a dozen Flock cameras on the way to this meeting, so you already know where I live,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n
Another speaker offered his license plate number in place of his address.<\/p>\n
Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz told speakers he and the police chief would review their concerns and bring back a report at a later meeting.<\/p>\n
In Oviedo, council members seemed convinced their city police department is using Flock cameras correctly but shared residents\u2019 fears of how the company may be wrongly sharing information.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think some of the concern is where the data is being stored and whether it\u2019s secure,\u201d said council member Keith Britton. \u201cI guess we have to trust Flock or not trust Flock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council member Alan Ott said he was trying to balance the benefits versus the harms, but he sounded more worried than supportive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consequences of a plate being misread are high,\u201d Ott said. \u201cThe consequences of a person in another jurisdiction abusing the system for their own personal reasons could be high. I don\u2019t think you have to go much beyond that to say that this kind of system is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last April, a Florida woman wrongfully spent 13 days in jail on felony charges in connection to a fatal vehicle crash on Oct. 4 in Volusia County that she had nothing to do with because of the Florida Highway Patrol\u2019s misuse of Flock cameras, according to a federal lawsuit she filed against the state agency.<\/p>\n
Opponents of the devices contend that fewer than 1% of those surveilled are suspected of wrongdoing, and that while useful in some circumstances, they haven\u2019t been shown to reduce crime.<\/p>\n
And they point to the instances of misuse of the technology. For instance, a Kentucky officer was arrested this week after using the system to search his ex-girlfriend more than 2,000 times, and in Sarasota, an officer was arrested this month after searching his ex-girlfriend\u2019s vehicle more than 300 times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I see a police officer using this to track an ex-girlfriend, I\u2019m like \u2018what the hell is going on with this?\u2019\u201d DeSantis said last week. \u201cI think people are right to be concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission faced a furor this summer when it was revealed it had pulled driving records of outspoken environmentalists opposed to its black bear hunt. The environmentalists suspect the FWC pulled its records to obtain license plate numbers so it could then use Flock cameras to track their movements and see who was attending commission meetings.<\/p>\n
In response to the backlash across the country, Flock officials have recently announced changes in how long it retains footage and new requirements that seek to limit who can search its files.\u00a0 CEO Garrett Langely also told CBS News the company supports state legislation to punish law enforcement officers who misue the technology.<\/p>\n
But the anger remains.<\/p>\n
In Lake, Commissioner Anthony Sabatini said he put an item on this week\u2019s Board of County Commissioners meeting agenda to outright ban the cameras.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson wrote a memo to her colleagues to discuss which entities are allowed to deploy them, who has access to data and whether that county\u2019s policies adequately balance privacy and public safety.<\/p>\n
Her memo states there are 327 such cameras across the county, with other agencies besides the sheriff\u2019s office also using them. The sheriff\u2019s office has conducted more than 425,000 searches using the system, the memo says.\u00a0 A discussion is expected later this year, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Mina said he hopes local and state leaders take a narrow approach to any reforms, implementing safeguards but allowing law enforcement to continue using the cameras. The safeguards could include audits and consequences for those who misuse them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get the privacy concerns, I\u2019m empathetic to that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re more than willing to put the guardrails and safeguards in place to make sure it\u2019s being used properly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A growing revolt is mounting in Central Florida, and across the state, against cameras that photograph vehicle license…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[112,28,2174,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,1014,109,2261],"class_list":["post-385241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-florida","tag-lake-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seminole-county","tag-social","tag-volusia-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385241","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=385241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tos-l-frock-screengrabs.jpg\")
A pair of Flock camera photos of a man deputies believed was driving with the body of his deceased ex-girlfriend. The first photo, taken in rural Georgia, shows a trash bag in the truck bed, while the second photo, taken nine minutes later in Alabama, shows no bag. Investigators were able to find the human remains between the two cameras. (Orange County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n