Eleven mystery Flock cameras were discovered operating in a Florida county without permits or publicly identified owners, raising concerns about who installed them and who has access to the data they collect, according to a report.
The discovery came in St. Lucie County after officials moved to remove the controversial, high-tech Flock cameras used to monitor traffic and track vehicles, The Washington Post reported.
County officials had initially believed that 52 cameras were operating locally. A subsequent inspection, however, found 14 devices being used without permits.
The sheriff’s office acknowledged that three of the cameras belonged to the agency, leaving 11 unauthorized devices without identified owners. Residents have been left uncertain about who controls the sensitive information gathered by the cameras.
“I’m not happy about it unless I know who it is,” 70-year-old resident Todd Richter told the newspaper. “And I don’t.”
It was not immediately known why the sheriff’s office had not obtained permits for its cameras.
County officials told The Washington Post that notices were placed on the unidentified cameras, giving their owners until Oct. 16 to Oct. 20 to remove them, depending on when each notice was posted.
If no one comes forward to claim the devices, county workers plan to cover their lenses with plastic bags.
A Flock spokesperson told the newspaper that the company often handles permits “where required,” but added that requirements differ by jurisdiction and are not necessary in every location.
Flock said it had contacted St. Lucie County officials and was “happy to work with them directly to review the cameras in question and address any discrepancies,” according to an email from the company.
County officials have not said whether they will accept Flock’s offer to investigate the cameras.
Ty Grant, 28, lives only a few hundred feet from one of the Flock cameras in Fort Pierce.
Grant became frightened after the newspaper told him that authorities did not know who had installed the device.
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“That makes me feel very unsafe,” Grant said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis directed the Florida Department of Transportation to revoke existing permits for automated license-plate scanning systems, including Flock products, following public concern over privacy.
The controversial AI-powered cameras, along with similar systems, have been deployed across the country, including throughout the tristate area.
In Nassau County, drivers encounter a Flock Safety camera approximately every 9.5 miles, making local motorists among the most closely monitored in the nation, according to a Washington Post analysis of independent data.
More than 330 Flock Safety cameras are mapped across the suburban county’s 3,200 miles of roads, placing Nassau among the top 100 U.S. counties for camera density, according to DeFlock, an activist group that tracks the company’s expansion.
The figures place Nassau residents among the 3% of drivers in the United States who are most closely monitored.
In Connecticut, more than half a dozen towns — including Vernon, Bridgeport, Danbury, Shelton, Stratford, North Haven and New Haven — have signed contracts with BusPatrol to install license-plate-reading cameras on school buses. The systems are intended to identify drivers who pass buses while their red warning lights are flashing.
Company technicians log the violations and hand the footage over to local cops.
Unlike Flock’s round-the-clock surveillance net, BusPatrol’s cameras don’t constantly monitor the roads.
Figures in major corporations and the federal government have warned the public about the proliferation of Flock cameras, noting that oversaturated surveillance can degrade public privacy.
On Fox News’ “Saturday in America” Pentagon AI police director Mark Beall warned that Flock cameras and other similar tools could turn communities into a “China-like surveillance state.”
“We have to be careful that we don’t go too far to the other direction and create a China-like surveillance state, which is literally what AI capabilities will ultimately enable and are enabling right now,” Beall said.
Flock and representatives for St. Lucie County and its sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for clarification or comment.
