Fact Check: Where candidates Donalds and Jolly stand on Flock cameras

Florida Politics admin September 30, 2026 0 Comments

Fact Check: Where candidates Donalds and Jolly stand on Flock cameras

Both Republican Byron Donalds and Democrat David Jolly supported Gov. Ron DeSantis’ move last month to revoke approvals for license plate readers on state roads, but neither has consistently committed to a full ban on their use.

The cameras impacted by Florida’s new state Department of Transportation rules make up only a portion of the vast network of privately operated cameras capturing footage of cars and making it accessible to police agencies, largely erected by the company Flock Safety. There are more than 2,000 license plate cameras across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, according to a Miami Herald analysis, and many of those will not be removed under the state’s new, partial ban.

Some police agencies, including the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, have announced plans to independently go beyond the state’s measure and suspend license plate cameras entirely. Other local leaders, like Miami Beach’s mayor, have said they plan to fight back against the state to try to keep all existing cameras in place.

The state’s next governor will play a key role in determining the extent to which the state rolls back its existing camera network. But neither Jolly nor Donalds have made banning Flock cameras a primary campaign issue platform, and they’ve each waffled between justifying their use in certain situations and condemning them.

Issue: Flock cameras

Byron Donalds, Republican nominee

In early July, Donalds said he had a “real issue with Flock cameras” on the Cartier Family podcast. “I actually think we need to take a full pause at this and relook at this whole system,” he said.

Later that month, however, Donalds wouldn’t commit to a full ban when asked on the Bald Eagle podcast whether he’d eliminate them entirely.

“Before we get that far, I really want to have a full analysis of the entire scope what we’re doing,” Donalds said. “In campaigns its easy to say ‘I’m gonna ban this, I’m gonna ban that.’ Full stop, I’m a realist: you have to be able to get that through both House and Senate in Tallahassee.”

During that interview, he said he’d recently spoken to Florida sheriffs who defended the cameras’ use to locate people suspected of crimes. “I talked to sheriffs about this. We want to make sure they have the tools they need,” he said.

In a statement to the Herald/Times this week, Donalds added, “I’m proud to be endorsed by 58 Florida sheriffs, but we will not turn into a surveillance state and we will protect our citizens’ privacy.”

While it remains unclear whether that position would amount to a full ban, what Donalds has consistently called for are stricter penalties for officers who misuse their access to the cameras’ footage.

David Jolly, Democratic nominee

Jolly has also defended the cameras use in certain situations. He told reporters in Tallahassee last month, “Law enforcement needs every tool to bring that active crime environment to a close as quickly as possible” and that “we don’t want to handicap the ability to respond to crime.”

Rather than calling for a full-on ban of the cameras, Jolly has said he wants to see a special legislative session focused on Flock cameras to create new state laws regulating their use.

“Getting this right and in law is most important,” he said after the DeSantis administration issued the partial revocation on the cameras’ approvals.

The clearest distinguishing factor between Jolly’s and Donalds’ plans for regulating license plate cameras comes down to how they plan to prevent officers from misusing their access to the vast network of footage.

Jolly has called for a new requirement that officers obtain a warrant from a judge before accessing Flock camera footage, while Donalds is pushing for harsher punishments to deter misuse.

“We need to ensure we are in an environment with judicial warrants when Flock cameras are used,” Jolly told reporters last month.