ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — As the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Flock cameras come down, Sheriff Rob Hardwick says neighborhoods and homeowners associations are leaving theirs up.
“We have an additional 100 license plate readers in St. Johns County. They don’t belong to us. They belong to your neighborhoods,” said Sheriff Hardwick. “It’s important that you address the HOA’s as well because we will not be monitoring those.”
The comments were made during the St. Johns County budget meeting on Tuesday.
Commissioners asked the Sheriff’s office about who has access to the data on these cameras.
“Any community member can buy a camera from any vendor and put it anywhere they want. HOA’s can do that, and they provide access to whoever they choose. But don’t confuse that system with our system,” said Chief Kevin Cronin with SJSO.
Last month, the Florida Department of Transportation issued a memo to all law enforcement agencies revoking all ALPR permits in the right-a-ways on the state highway system.
The memo came amid privacy concerns from citizens about how the data was being used.
Word that there are still ALPR’s put in place by people who aren’t law enforcement came as a surprise to some.
“I think it’s pretty scary. I mean that power in the hands of anyone really can be misused. It’s not a good thing to have for anybody,” said Jacob Lutz, who lives in St. Johns County.
“If it is not owned by St. Johns County, that should not be up there,” said Hina Baria, who also lives in St. Johns County. “(I) don’t feel safe about that one.”
Sheriff Hardwick said the Flock cameras on the right-of-ways of state highways will be down by the end of the month.
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