{"id":401643,"date":"2026-09-16T16:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T16:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401643\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T16:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T16:38:22","slug":"st-lucie-county-finds-14-unpermitted-license-plate-readers-says-there-could-be-more-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401643\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Lucie County finds 14 unpermitted license plate readers, says there could be more"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 St. Lucie County<\/a> staff found at least 14 license plate reader<\/a> cameras installed on county rights-of-way without a permit, and the county says it does not know who owns them.<\/p>\n

Staff shared the finding with commissioners Tuesday night in an update on the board’s Sept. 1 decision to remove automated license plate readers from county-controlled property.<\/p>\n

The number of unpermitted cameras has climbed quickly. A county agenda report signed Sept. 10 said field checks had turned up three cameras at unpermitted locations. By Tuesday, staff said the count had reached at least 14, and the search is not finished.<\/p>\n

Because the county has no permit on file for those cameras, staff said it cannot identify an applicant to contact. Instead, the county is posting removal notices directly on the devices.<\/p>\n

“It’s like a bright red notice that says you have 30 days to remove this. And we will also bag the cameras so they’re not operable,” said interim county administrator Mayte Santamaria.<\/p>\n

Staff said the county has not yet gone through its entire right-of-way and more unauthorized cameras may still be found. Staff is also double-checking some traffic signals that interact with state right-of-way, which could add a handful more. The agenda report says staff is comparing crowdsourced data from various sources against known locations to find unknown or unauthorized installations.<\/p>\n

See also: Florida boaters rescued after capsized vessel leaves them stranded in tree<\/a><\/p>\n

The unpermitted cameras are in addition to 52 devices the county previously authorized within its rights-of-way. Staff said all 52 had received revocation notices as of Monday, giving their owners 30 days to remove them.<\/p>\n

According to the report, county permit records indicate most of the authorized devices were installed on behalf of law enforcement agencies. The county shared its inventory with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, the Fort Pierce Police Department and the Port St. Lucie Police Department ahead of the notices. The report says that step was meant both to give the agencies advance notice and to let them review the data for accuracy.<\/p>\n

Staff also told commissioners there are no active applications for new devices under review.<\/p>\n

Commissioners voted 3-2 on Sept. 1 to stop issuing permits for Flock cameras<\/a> and other automated license plate readers on county-owned or county-controlled property. The vote went beyond a state order that applies only to state highways. Commissioner James Clasby made the motion, which he said was about protecting residents’ privacy. Commissioners Clasby, Lee and Lowry voted yes, and Chair Jamie Fowler and Commissioner Cathy Townsend voted no.<\/p>\n

The board’s direction does not apply to license plate readers mounted in law enforcement vehicles or cameras on private property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 St. Lucie County staff found at least 14 license plate reader cameras…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-401643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401643","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=401643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}