JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sheriff T.K. Waters is addressing JSO’s use of Flock cameras, amid growing concern about the license plate reading cameras that are springing up across the nation.
Sheriff Waters said he stands behind his agency’s use of the cameras, but understands the public’s concerns.
“I don’t think we did a good enough job, maybe explaining to people what it was,” said Waters.
He said over the past two years they’ve proven incredibly effective, helping to solve 15 murders, 17 kidnappings, six forcible sex offenses, nearly 100 shootings and 172 missing persons cases just since 2024.
“We want to make it extremely difficult to allow you to get away with crime in Jacksonville, and we’ve been able to do that so far, and we’re seeing massive improvements,” said Waters.
But Riley Willis, who is organizing opposition to the use of Flock technology in neighboring St. Johns County, argued use of the technology has exploded in recent years with little to no public input or transparency.
“Ten years ago in 2016, there were zero ALPR’s across the United States, and now there’s I think we’re talking there’s 120,000,” said Willis.
Waters declined to specify how many license plate reading cameras JSO employs, but according to FlockHopper.com there are more than 130 in Duval County.
Willis noted other concerns surround the potential for the cameras to be used by officers to stalk romantic interests or track the movements of citizens for reasons not related to official investigations.
“Whenever you’ve got this widespread of a surveillance network, the ability, the capacity for human misbehavior is going to be exponentially multiplied specifically because it is so easy,” said Willis.
Waters explained that JSO officers have to connect their search to a case number when accessing Flock data.
He said JSO has not seen any misuse of the cameras yet, and noted the agency audits their use to ensure they are not being accessed for improper reasons.
“We’re always gonna use it the right way, and I think people have seen enough that we don’t have a problem disciplining our own when they don’t do the things they’re supposed to do,” said Waters.
Sheriff Waters also noted, unlike other surveillance technologies like red light cameras, school bus cameras and toll cameras, Flock cameras cannot be used to automatically ticket drivers for traffic infractions.
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