ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Some St. Johns County residents are asking county commissioners to deny the sheriff’s office funding for license plate reader technology for the upcoming fiscal year.
The St. Johns County Board of Commissioners met Thursday night to discuss next year’s budget, and some residents weren’t shy about sharing their opinions on ALPRs — or Automated License Plate Recognition technology.
“This is your opportunity in this budget meeting to stop this budget, stop funding this stuff, and give yourselves time to reevaluate what the real future for St. Johns County looks like,” said one resident.
“Are we using public funds for facial recognition software, drone surveillance, or third-party data scraping?” said another resident. “Hint: We are.”
Earlier this week, the Florida Department of Transportation issued a memo calling for the removal of Flock cameras on state roads.
Still, St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick is asking county commissioners to approve $500,000 to go towards possible system upkeep. He says even if the sheriff’s office doesn’t end up using it for ALPRs, the money will still be put to good use.
“The jail could use it tomorrow for our guardian program that actually keeps an eye on our inmates in the jail,” Hardwick said. “There’s another program out there we can actually buy bracelets for our people in the jail to make sure they don’t go into cardiac arrest and die and sue us. There are other things we would do with that $500,000 if, indeed, this commission or the sheriff’s office alone meets with my legislators and says, ‘Hey, we’re going to go ahead and shut the entire system down.’”
But some St. Johns County residents argue that providing any funding towards the Flock camera system encourages surveillance technology as a whole.
“Supporting law enforcement does not require supporting every surveillance technology available to a government, especially without asking whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth, or if our rights are being violated,” said one resident. “This isn’t a pro-police versus anti-police question. It’s a question of fiscal responsibility and limited government.”
Hardwick says he put a license plate reader on a public road near his house.
“People who were sovereign citizens were filming me and my family in public parking lots, threatening to kill my family, my grandbabies — I don’t take that stuff lightly,” Hardwick said. “So somebody said, ‘Put a license plate reader in front of your house.’”
Hardwick says he has nothing to hide.
“I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I believe in God, and I love my wife,” Hardwick said. “Crime in this county is held accountable based on any actions that they take, and we use technology to do it, too.”
The county’s final public hearing on next year’s budget will be Sept. 15.
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