Flock Safety cameras de-activated but not removed, Fort Myers Beach official says

Though the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted nearly two months ago to cancel the town’s contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras, the cameras are still up though not actively working, according to Town of Fort Myers Beach Public Information Officer Abigail Eberhart.

The cameras have been de-activated, Eberhart said. The town doesn’t have a timeline on when the controversial cameras will be removed though. Eberhart said the town is waiting on Flock Safety.

“Flock will be removing them,” Eberhart said in an email on Oct. 2. As of Tuesday, the cameras had still not been removed. Eberhart and Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay did not respond to further inquiries as of Friday.

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council approved a five-year contract with Flock Safety in 2023 for two license plate reader cameras at Big Carlos Pass Bridge, two automated license plate reader cameras at Matanzas Pass Bridge, and another cameras that was near Times Square.

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted in September to remove the cameras following the recommendation of McKannay, who expressed concern over the town’s lack of control over the data.

Eberhart initially said in September that the town was awaiting on the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to give a town a date for their removal though officials with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said they had nothing to do with the removal of the cameras. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office had access to the license plate readers on Fort Myers Beach through a separate data-sharing contract with Flock Safety though it doesn’t own the Flock Safety cameras used on Fort Myers Beach. Eberhart later said the town was waiting on Flock Safety for when the cameras will be removed.

Neither Eberhart of McKaannay have addressed exactly where on the bridges or at Times Square the cameras are located.

In response to questions emailed to Flock Safety by the Fort Myers Beach Observer asking when the Flock Safety license plate reader cameras would be removed, an individual going by the name of Ashley responded “For privacy and security purposes, our team can’t disclose this information on behalf of our customers.”

In 2022, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted to approve placing cameras on Fort Myers Beach. In 2023, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council approved a five-year contract at a cost of $15,000 a year with Flock Safety for two license plate reader cameras at Big Carlos Pass Bridge, two license plate reader cameras at Matanzas Pass Bridge, and a camera near the Times Square area.

The cameras have caused an uproar around the country amid increasing concerns about government surveillance, as well as the misuse of such cameras by some police department employees. There have been numerous reports, arrests and firings of police department employees around the country who were found to have misused data from license plate readers to track individuals, including former spouses and girlfriends of department employees.

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered all license plate readers removed from state roads and right-of-ways, not including toll booths used by the state to bill motorists.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office took down all license plate readers that were on any state roads or right-of-ways though the department continues to use data from its license plate readers located on county roads.

Before the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted to end the town’s contract with Flock Safety at the suggestion of Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay, McKannay said he was “not comfortable with the current contract structure, under which we pay only for camera installation but have no role in operating or monitoring them, and no oversight of those who do.

McKannay said he was concerned about how the data is shared with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and what agreement the town has with the office. He said his concern was the town had no control over the license plate readers and the sharing of the data with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

“I then started having concerns. The town could be liable if anything were to go wrong with a user,” McKannay. McKannay said the town had no protections or agreements in place to indemnify itself from any misuse.

McKannay said he spoke with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office about their use of the license plate reader data to talk about their authorized use policy, which he called “very thorough.” He said he wasn’t against the license plate readers in principle and could return to the council in the future “with a better agreement.”

McKannay said the Lee County Sheriff’s Office told him that the license plate readers are used in the “tracking of suspicious vehicles, suspicious personnel” that are on a list. “Officers are looking for that,” McKannay said.

Lee County Attorney Nancy Stuparich also clarified that the town has no access to any of the data from the license plate readers that is used by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

McKannay said Flock Safety has all of the data. He said the Lee County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t retain the data, but only views it.

In a statement issued two months ago on the subject, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said “There is no doubt that technology can be a double edged sword. While it has helped us in major investigations and locating missing persons, we must understand the general public’s fear of misuse.”

Marceno said the office “will comply with the orders by our State partners while the legislature straightens the rules and regulations regarding the use of certain technologies. Our hope is that they move quickly as to not jeopardize public safety.”

At a press conference announcing his opposition to the use of the cameras, DeSantis called license plate readers “out of control.” DeSantis cited a recent cases where a police officer was alleged to have used license plate readers to track an ex-girlfriend.

“I don’t want to have this become a surveillance state,” DeSantis said. “I think people are right to be concerned.”

Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breezenewspapers.com