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Federal lawsuit filed against Marco Island bridge cameras

License plate readers approved by Fort Myers Beach would be set up in similar fashion on bridge entryways

By Nathan Mayberg - Editor | Feb 15, 2022

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council has authorized Town Manager Roger Hernstadt to contract with Flock Safety for six license plate readers and mobile cameras.

A federal lawsuit filed against Marco Island by the New Civil Liberties Alliance on behalf of three city residents challenging automated license plate readers on city bridges, has the potential to impact a similar set of cameras being planned for purchase on Fort Myers Beach.

The lawsuit was filed Feb. 7 in United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida Fort Myers Division by Marco Island residents Stephen Overman, Shannon Schemel and Michael Tschida.

They allege violations of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which prohibits unreasonable and unwarranted searches and seizures by the government.

According to the suit, the city has deployed at least three automated license plate recognition cameras (ALPRs) at locations throughout the city. The cameras photograph and record the license plate information of every vehicle that passes through.

“Because vehicles must pass over one of three bridges to enter and exit Marco Island and because defendants have mounted the ALPRs on poles located on or near each of those three bridges, defendants record and store the license plate information of every vehicle that enters and exits Marco Island, as well as the time and date of entry and exit,” the suit states.

While Marco Island has three bridges for entry, Fort Myers Beach has two sets of bridges to enter from – Big Carlos Pass Bridge on the south end and Matanzas Pass Bridge on the north are the only methods of entry onto the island without a boat.

The suit alleges that Marco Island retains the data for three years. The plaintiffs allege they must pass over the bridge nearly each day. “The defendants have now recorded and stored a vast quantity of information about the daily life of plaintiffs and their fellow citizens,” the suit states.

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted in December to authorize Town Manager Roger Hernstadt to enter into a contract with Flock Safety to install six automated license plate readers at its bridges along with two mobile cameras.

According to Hernstadt, contract language was recently negotiated through town attorney John Herin Jr. and was expected to be brought in front of the council.

Messages left with Herin seeking clarification on the new contract language as well as a response to the Marco Island lawsuit and how it could potentially impact Fort Myers Beach, were not returned.

According to Flock Safety, the data from the license plate readers would be stored by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for 30 days. The company also had stated that the information from the license plate readers would be shared with other unnamed law enforcement agencies.

Flock Safety currently contracts with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, which has license plate readers on various poles throughout the county.

According to Lee County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Anita Iriarte, the office doesn’t share “direct data from the cameras, nor do we store the data outside of the Flock Safety website/portal.”

Iriarte said that data from the cameras is used for “law enforcement purposes, special investigations, missing persons or safety reasons.”

According to Town of Fort Myers Beach documents, each camera will cost the town $2,500 ($15,000 for six) plus a $250 implementation fee for each camera for a total of $16,500.

The lawsuit contends that the storing of the data from the cameras is where the Fourth Amendment violation occurs. The cameras can be used in live time to notify police of suspended licenses, wanted individuals or expired registrations. The suit alleges that the cameras are a privacy threat by building a composite of the daily activities of drivers.

Marco Island began using the cameras in 2015 and more than 1 million images have been captured with the first camera, which is mounted on a squad car. The suit contends that millions more each year will be collected from the bridges. In April of 2021, the city outfitted its bridges with the cameras. The license plate readers are situated on the two spans of the Jolley Bridge and on San Marco Road on the approach to Gober Bridge.

In Marco Island, the data retained from the cameras would be retained for a minimum of three years, but would not be expunged after three years if it was determined to serve an investigative purpose, according to the suit.

Citing the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco, “the basic purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by government officials,” the suit states.

“People do not surrender that privacy right simply because they are moving along public roads or are otherwise venturing into the public sphere,” the suit states.

The alliance has also filed an appeal in state court on a municipal court decision regarding a lawsuit the organization filed against the City of Coral Gables over their license plate readers.

Richard Samp, who is representing the plaintiffs for the New Civil Liberties Alliance said “it’s not unreasonable to have cameras. What is unreasonable is to take a picture of someone’s life.”