JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The debate over license plate reading technology like Flock cameras has officially reached Jacksonville City Hall.
Dozens of people showed up to weigh in on JSO’s use of Flock cameras, as city council members began early discussions on how to regulate the tech during a noticed meeting Friday morning.
Some were supportive of the cameras, like Latasha Hobbs, whose son was killed in 2017, which was before JSO began using Flock.
His killer has still not been found.
“I was robbed of my son. My children were robbed of their brother. I’ll be damned if I let anyone rob me of his justice and justice for other families,” said Hobbs.
But many more raised concerns about 4th Amendment rights, over-surveillance and potential misuse of the technology by law enforcement.
“I’m really concerned about this, because they’re a tech company. All the protections in place, it can still be hacked, it will be hacked, it will be abused and the data is just sitting there and we have no say in it,” said Duval resident Andrew Scott.
Councilmember Jimmy Peluso (D-District 7) suggested a 120 day pause on the use of the cameras and the creation of a process for neighbors to have them removed from their communities.
“I want to make sure that people in this city recognize or see that their elected officials see the potential risks and concerns of violations of their 4th Amendment rights, and we do,” said Peluso.
Council President Nick Howland (R-Group 3 At-Large) noted other legislation is already in the works that aims to ensure officers are held accountable for misuse.
“We know that the state is going to address this issue coming up next session. So, at the very least, we need to figure out how to protect privacy and prevent misuse,” said Howland.
And local FOP President Randy Reaves said he hopes additional protections can be added to that bill, like prohibitions on the sale of license plate reader data and time limits on the storage of that data.
“We believe that the safeguards that this conversation is good. It’s positive, and conversations like this need to happen so that we can find that ground where public safety can continue to use this technology, keep our communities safe and get violent criminals off the street,” said Reaves.
City council has about six months to try and implement some sort of Flock camera regulations before the Florida Legislature meets in March and possibly implements some sort of statewide policy.
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