‘Suspended in its entirety’: Miami-Dade sheriff to take down Flock cameras

Surveillance cameras that police use to track vehicles will go dark on Tuesday in Miami-Dade under a crackdown ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz announced in a statement that also praised the department’s use of the devices in the past.

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Her comments came a day after DeSantis announced Florida would no longer authorize surveillance cameras on state-maintained roads — a category that covers most thoroughfares in Miami-Dade and beyond.

Cordero-Stutz is going beyond the state’s order pertaining to state roads, announcing Tuesday that the county’s “license plate reader (LPR) program will be suspended in its entirety.”

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office made a similar announcement Monday after the state’s new directive.

The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office operated at least seven Flock cameras as of September of last year, according to records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Department did not immediately answer a question from the Herald/Times about how many cameras it was operating as of this week.

Like other police departments and sheriff’s offices that are shuttering the use of the technology, Cordero-Stutz defended its decision to use the cameras in the first place.

“To be clear, this technology has helped apprehend murderers and robbers, and saved children from being abducted and found missing people,” said Cordero-Stutz, a Republican. “We also recognize that technology must come with appropriate safeguards.”

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The state’s directive removing its approval for local police agencies to use the cameras followed public pushback against Flock, a brand of surveillance technology that has drawn criticism for privacy violations by police officers with access to the footage and data.

But in tapping into that criticism, DeSantis is also getting resistance from local elected officials defending surveillance cameras, which police have used to retrace the path of vehicles suspected of being part of a crime.

Florida is “giving us 30 days to rip out technology that’s helped our police track fleeing suspects, get guns off our streets, and arrest violent criminals,” Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said Monday.

On Monday, DeSantis criticized the cameras’ usage and their potential to create an “AI surveillance state.” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also joined the chorus of voices criticizing Flock Tuesday, even as the state has approved contracts with Flock in the past.

“I think that there were a lot of abuses. We’ve all heard the stories where some officers were spying on ex-girlfriends or tracking people,” he told reporters in Kissimmee Tuesday. “I do think these things were overly broadly used, they were all over the country, in many communities and neighborhoods, and I think that goes too far.”

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