What the Flock? š¦Action Alert, August 31, 2026
- beachesactivistmov
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
āHer life was a testament to the power of love, the value of kindness, the reality of goodness among us. . . Somehow her being gone made her more present than ever in one way. In another, with her gone, it's up to us to be what she was to the best of our ability."
They Are Everywhere: Reining in Flock
Big Brother-style warrantless surveillance of the law-abiding public is suddenly all over the headlines. The proliferation of Flock Safety and other brands of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) is raising alarms in cities across the country --- and across the political spectrum. There are currently an estimated 140,000 cameras nationwide, including installations here at the Beach and throughout Duval County.Ā And the number is growing, thanks to aggressive marketing and lobbying by vendors.
At issue is the AI-assisted capacity of these systems to track and compile detailed information on every car that comes into view and upload it into a nationwide database --- controlled by commercial vendors --- that any law enforcement agency can search with few restrictions or oversight. Unlike automated speed cameras, ALPR cameras are not triggered by any specific action or event. Instead, ALPR cameras are constantly recording and tracking the movements of everything that enters their field of view and logging it into a mass database. And theĀ use of ALPRs is not confined to the public sector.
Security or Surveillance?
Proponents, particularly law enforcement agencies, point to the value of ALPRs in increasing security and solving crimes, while opponents cite 4th Amendment privacy concerns and the unwitting creation of a national surveillance system controlled by private tech companies. Documented abuses of the system have prompted responses in various jurisdictions ranging from increased transparency, oversight, regulation and accountability to outright elimination. Even FL Governor Ron DeSantisĀ is proposing to de-flock state rights-of-way.
APLRs --- including a half dozen around the Beach --- have been vandalized across the country. De-flock protesters in neighboring St. Johns County are blocking cameras. In response to public outcry, Flock recently instituted changes to its usage and retention guidelines --- but local agencies contracting with the company continue to retain flexibility in setting their own policies.
The ACLU has been a leader in questioning APLRs and has proposed model regulations with four essential guardrails: 1) limiting data retention to hours or days, not the current weeks, months, or more;Ā 2) prohibiting data sharing without a warrant; 3) limiting data usage to specific investigations and cases; and 4) requiring annual usage reporting and restrictions on public access to ALPR data. Regulations like these could minimize proven abuses of the system, like cops using the system to track girlfriends or ex-wives, but don't tackle the larger issue: that a technology originally sold as a way to help find missing people or track car thieves has quietly grown into a nationwide database of the daily movements of ordinary citizens, whether suspected of a crime or not.
Flocking the Beach, Jacksonville
ALPRs are scattered across Atlantic, Neptune and Jax Beach. Operating policies provided by police departments in Neptune and Jacksonville Beach (Atlantic Beach is still processing our public records request) outline requirements for accessing and using information collected by ALPRs, as well as prohibitions and penalties for misuse. Jax Beach PD policies require a āyearly internal audit of queries to confirm legitimate law enforcement use,ā while Neptune Beach allows for āinternal inspectionsā and āspecific audits of APLR use by any user.ā
However, the PD policies for the two Beach communities both provide for broad data sharing with other law enforcement agencies without a warrant, and lengthy periods for data retention.Ā No annual usage reports are required, and the current policies do not address the need for restrictions on public access to this data through public record requests that could be used for embarrassment or other troublesome purposes.
Across the ditch, Flock cameras have also caught the attention of City leaders. An overflow crowd showed up last week for a meeting called by Jax City Councilman Jimmy Peluso to explore options for regulating Flock and similar surveillance systems. Peluso is proposing a 120-day moratorium on additional cameras to allow the City time to compile an ALPR inventory and develop a process for citizen input on where they are located.
What You Can Do
Take action to leverage all the current attention to Flock and other ALPR companies and urge elected officials to protect our privacy rights:
Send this letter urging FL Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, and Congressman John Rutherford, to join federal efforts to rein in Flock and other mass surveillance tools. With even DeSantis raising concerns, this is actually something they might do!
Sign this petition urging city leaders in Atlantic, Neptune, and Jax Beach to review current ALPR policies and strengthen transparency and oversight to protect the privacy rights of residents. Share the link with concerned friends and neighbors. We'll collect signatures for a few weeks and make sure it gets to City leaders.Ā Note: You can sign this petition without contributingĀ to Change.org.
Attend AB Candidate Forum Wednesday
Meet the candidates running for Atlantic Beach Mayor and City Commission Seat 4 and hear their plans at the Beaches Watch forum on Wednesday, September 2, 7 p.m. at the Beaches Library.Ā Nancy Staats and incumbent Curtis Ford are vying for Mayor, and Lisa HerroldĀ and Jennifer Lagner are competing for Seat 4 on the City Commission. A reminder to use the north entrance to the library if you are planning to attend. Atlantic Beach is the only city at the Beach with competitive races on the ballot in November. Candidates seeking to fill seats on the Neptune and Jax Beach City Councils faced no opposition in the upcoming election.
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