This Flock camera on Hendricks Avenue has a solar panel on top to power it, plus electronics and the actual camera underneath. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on August 6, 2026 at 10:31 am
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Q: Surveillance devices known as Flock cameras have created a firestorm across the country. Law enforcement sees them as a valuable crimefighting tool, but critics consider the cameras secretive and intrusive.
The automated license plate readers take their name from the manufacturer, Flock Safety. Jacksonville and other cities in Northeast Florida have deployed hundreds of the cameras to help law enforcement track vehicles.
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The cameras can capture a vehicle’s license plate and details like make, model, color and bumper stickers. But people opposed to the cameras have vandalized them, shot at them and run them over.
Locally, a 19-year-old Jacksonville Beach man was accused of spray-painting five Flock cameras last month in Atlantic and Neptune Beach.
Jacksonville Today reader Brandon G. says there seem to be more cameras lately in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach.
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Brandon has a number of questions. Do these cameras fall under the authority of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office? Does the city have to grant permission for them to be installed? And:
Who determines how many cameras and where they’re installed?
A: Jacksonville Today posed Brandon’s questions to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which did not respond directly to the questions but issued a statement saying the department “respects the constitutional rights of all citizens, and we take the necessary steps to protect and defend those rights.”
The statement continues: “Rights that do not exist in our constitution are the ‘rights’ to commit crime and victimize our citizens with impunity. For those reasons, JSO currently utilizes License Plate Readers on public right of ways to help identify and locate criminal offenders.”
Cameras, including red-light cameras, have been used for years at toll booths, school zones, intersections and other traffic sites, spokesperson Christian Hancock notes.
The Sheriff’s Office uses the technology to identify and find murderers, child predators, carjackers, robbery suspects, rapists, traffic homicide suspects, traffickers and other criminals, Hancock says.
The cameras are also used to rescue missing children, vulnerable adults, and dementia or Alzheimer’s patients, he says.
“Our dual, overarching goal with integrating advancing technology into policing is simple: We aim to make it as difficult as possible to commit crime and get away with it within Duval County,” Hancock says.
The city’s intial contract with Flock details the cost — $114,000 for a year — and how the records will be managed.
The contract says Flock will transfer all records to the city at·no cost and will destroy any duplicate records that are exempt or confidential if the contract ends.
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Jacksonville Today asked the same questions of the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. Spokesperson Tonya Tator says that city has Flock cameras at 17 locations. The first was activated Nov. 24.
The cameras cost $45,000 per year, Tator says. Eight more are planned, funded by the city’s Public Safety Technology Enhancement plan.
The department plans to connect its Flock cameras with other law enforcement agencies to be able share information during license plate and vehicle searches, Tator says.
Where are the Flock cameras?
A website called DeFlock logs the location of Flock cameras nationwide, showing an estimated 200-plus in Duval County. Most are on interstates and major commuter roads.
More than 600 cameras are shown in Duval, Nassau, Clay, Baker and St. Johns counties combined.
Flock cameras have been misused in some cities. Savannah, for example, discovered “several potential misuses” of its Flock system, according to a Facebook post from Mayor Van Johnson on July 31. Four police officers and two civilian employees were put on administrative leave as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigates.
Hancock says the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has strict policies governing the use of the technology “to ensure that it is reactively used for appropriate law enforcement purposes. Anyone who misuses it faces discipline, including the possibility of termination.”
