Florida’s state transportation office revoked previously issued approvals for license plate readers in state rights-of-way on Monday, and the change reaches Miami Beach wherever those cameras sit on state-managed roads. Will Watts, the chief operating officer of the Florida Department of Transportation, sent a one-page memo to local law enforcement agencies ordering the revocations.
Watts said the department acted because of a recent exponential increase in deployments of law enforcement cameras and reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes. Ron DeSantis had already said on Friday, “We’re gonna clear the state right-of-ways,” before adding, “These cameras that are out there now — who’s to say they’re only doing the license plate?”
Florida Department of Transportation memo
The memo changed where license plate readers can remain in Florida. The Monday order does not affect cameras on private property or on local rights-of-way, which leaves most of the network in place because DeSantis said 98% of the surveillance cameras are located on local rights-of-way. The practical effect falls on state highways and other state rights-of-way, not on the broader local system.
The Florida Department of Transportation did not issue a city-by-city list in the facts provided, so the operational question for agencies is simple: any reader placed in a state right-of-way now sits outside the approvals Watts revoked. For local agencies, that means reviewing each installation against the type of right-of-way rather than the camera brand or the street name.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office response
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it would discontinue the use of license plate reader technology throughout its jurisdiction, Duval County, effective immediately. The office described the technology as an enormously valuable investigative tool, which puts its public safety use in the same statement as the decision to stop using it.
That response gives other agencies a concrete model: if their readers are in state rights-of-way, they face the same removal decision now; if they are on local rights-of-way or private property, the Monday memo does not reach them. The affected agencies must sort installations by location, not by whether the cameras have been useful.
Flock Safety and local agencies
Flock Safety said its technology is an important public safety tool for law enforcement agencies across Florida, helping officers solve serious crimes, find missing people, recover stolen vehicles, and support safer communities. It also said the technology was used in Florida in the last few weeks to find missing children, led to the arrest of a murder suspect, and assisted in solving numerous other crimes.
Since the beginning of last year, more than 100 local governments canceled or did not renew their LPR contracts, according to the Institute for Justice. The next practical question is how many local law enforcement agencies will now remove readers from state rights-of-way after the Florida memo, because the order and the Jacksonville response together show the pressure is moving from policy debate to field-level shutdowns on state roads.
