Eleven unidentified Flock surveillance cameras were found operating in a Florida county without permits or publicly disclosed owners, prompting questions about who is monitoring residents and controlling the data collected, according to a report.
The discovery came in St. Lucie County after officials began removing Flock’s controversial high-tech cameras, which are used to scan traffic and track vehicles, The Washington Post reported.
Officials had believed that 52 cameras were active throughout the county. But an inspection revealed 14 additional devices operating without permits.
The sheriff’s office acknowledged that three of those cameras belonged to the agency. The remaining 11 were left without identified owners, leaving residents uncertain about who installed them or had access to the sensitive information they gathered.
“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 remains unclear why the sheriff’s office did not obtain permits for its cameras.
County officials told The Washington Post that notices were attached to the unidentified devices. Depending on when each notice was posted, owners were given until between Oct. 16 and Oct. 20 to remove the equipment.
If no one comes forward to claim the cameras, county employees intend to cover their lenses with plastic bags.
A Flock spokesperson told the newspaper that the company frequently manages permitting “where required,” but said regulations differ by jurisdiction and permits are not needed 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 plan to accept Flock’s offer.
Ty Grant, 28, lives only a few hundred feet from one of the Flock cameras in Fort Pierce.
Grant became alarmed after the newspaper told him that officials did not know who had installed the device near his home.
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“That makes me feel very unsafe,” Grant said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has directed the state Department of Transportation to revoke permits for automated license-plate recognition systems, including Flock products, following widespread privacy concerns.
Flock’s AI-powered cameras and similar surveillance systems have been deployed across the country, including throughout the tristate area.
In Nassau County, New York, drivers encounter a Flock Safety camera about every 9.5 miles, placing local residents among the most heavily monitored motorists in the country, according to The Washington Post’s analysis of independent data.
More than 330 Flock Safety cameras have been mapped across Nassau’s roughly 3,200 miles of roadway. The figures place the suburban county among the 100 U.S. counties with the highest camera density, according to DeFlock, an activist organization that tracks Flock’s expansion.
That means Nassau drivers rank among the top 3% of the most closely monitored motorists in the United States.
In Connecticut, more than a half-dozen communities — including Vernon, Bridgeport, Danbury, Shelton, Stratford, North Haven and New Haven — have signed agreements with BusPatrol to install license-plate-reading cameras on school buses. The systems are designed 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.