ORANGE PARK, Fla — The town of Orange Park is considering the introduction of Flock camera systems, a cutting-edge surveillance tool designed to automatically capture and log vehicle information through license plate recognition technology.

These cameras are capable of recording data like the plate number, make, model, and color of vehicles, which can be instrumental in aiding law enforcement with criminal investigations, searching for missing persons, and tracking down stolen vehicles.

“I understand the need for police to observe and check tags if there’s justifiable cause, but at some point, this seems to infringe on probable cause,” remarked Tyler Adams, a local resident.

Adams, along with his friend Bella Giardia, acknowledges the potential benefits of such technology but also expresses a degree of apprehension about its implications.

“Why have more infrastructure when money can be going towards other things like fixing the roads?” Adams said.

“It feels very unnecessary,” Giardia said.

The Town of Orange Park held a council meeting Tuesday to discuss Flock cameras, but future consideration will be shelved until January.

According to the agenda, the project cost would be just under $40,000. It’s unclear how many of these cameras could be implemented and where.

We reached out to the Mayor of Orange Park, Randy Anderson, who said there are steps that need to be taken before it can be approved or denied.

“At this moment, we took the proposal to approve the implementation of Flock Cameras in the Town of Orange Park off our agenda memorandum in order to do more research,” Mayor Anderson told First Coast News in a statement. “There are things the town still needs to look through before moving forward,”

For now, Adams and Giardia say they think the town will be fine without the cameras.

“It’s definitely an invasion of privacy,” Adams said.

Mayor Anderson confirmed they will revisit the discussion on Jan. 6.