Tampa Police to Pull 17 License Plate Cameras From State Roads After FDOT Order

Tampa police will take down 17 automated license plate readers from state highway rights-of-way by the end of the month, after the Florida Department of Transportation revoked the permits that allowed the cameras there in the first place. The order affects roughly two-thirds of the department's 25 total cameras, meaning drivers on state roads through Tampa will soon pass fewer of them, even as the city keeps monitoring the rest on local streets.

FDOT issued the memo on Aug. 31, citing "an exponential increase in deployments coupled with concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes." The agency gave law enforcement agencies statewide about 30 days, until Sept. 30, to remove any license plate reader camera sitting on state right-of-way. Any that aren't taken down in time, FDOT says it will remove itself.

The cameras, widely known by the brand name Flock, scan passing vehicles and log plate numbers along with details like make, model, color and bumper stickers. Tampa police say the technology has been useful: since the department started using it, the cameras have aided 622 arrests, helped recover 485 stolen vehicles and 68 firearms, and factored into 14 missing-person cases.

In a statement, Tampa police said the department "will continue to stringently monitor" its remaining cameras and "maintain strict controls" over the system, limiting access to investigators with a legitimate law-enforcement need. Those controls, the department says, will stay in place for the eight cameras it keeps on city-controlled roads once the 17 on state highways come down.

Hillsborough Sheriff Still Reviewing

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office confirmed it received the FDOT memo and is reviewing all of its camera locations to figure out which ones sit on state right-of-way and must come down. A sheriff's office spokesperson declined to say how many cameras that will affect, citing a state law the office says exempts that information from disclosure.

That puts Hillsborough in a similar spot to other Tampa Bay agencies working through the same 30-day clock. Pasco County's sheriff's office, for comparison, said it's removing all 70 of its Flock cameras from county and state right-of-way, a contract originally worth about $250,000, with no added cost to pull them down.

Backlash Building for Months

The FDOT order follows a longer run of public pushback over the cameras' reach. Advocacy groups including DeFlock St. Pete have argued the devices let police track people's movements without a warrant, and have pointed to cases elsewhere in Florida, including officers in Haines City and Sarasota who were fired and arrested for allegedly using camera data to stalk romantic interests.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled the crackdown was coming in a podcast appearance last week, saying the state would "clear state right of ways" of the cameras even though he described most Flock deployments in Florida as local, not state-run. He has also floated a broader "AI Bill of Rights" to set new limits on surveillance technology.

Not every local leader agrees with the rollback. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has defended the cameras as one of the most effective crime-fighting tools his office has, arguing government needs guardrails against misuse rather than a ban on the technology itself. Miami Beach's mayor has said he'll push legislation to let cities reclaim control of cameras on their own roads.

For now, Tampa residents can expect the 17 cameras on state highways to disappear by Sept. 30, while the department's remaining cameras on city-owned streets keep running under the same access rules Tampa police say have always been in place. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has not said when it will finish its review or how many of its own cameras will need to come down.

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Header photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)