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October 20, 2026 · St. Johns County, FL · Permits revoked

St. Johns County, Florida commissioners vote 3-2 to revoke permits for license plate readers on county roads

St. Johns County, Fla. commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, to revoke the permits for automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras on county roads and rights-of-way, including the Sheriff's Office's Flock Safety cameras, News4JAX, Action News Jax and First Coast News reported. Commissioners Krista Joseph and Chair Clay Murphy voted no. The vote followed about two hours of discussion, public comment from many residents and a presentation from the Sheriff's Office (First Coast News, Action News Jax). No timeline for taking the cameras down was discussed (News4JAX); First Coast News, which described the permits as temporarily revoked, said it was not yet clear when the cameras would go offline. The Florida Department of Transportation revoked ALPR permits on state highways at the end of August, with a Sept. 30 deadline to comply, and the Sheriff's Office had kept its cameras on county roads (Action News Jax, News4JAX). Earlier this month the office said roughly half of its approximately 182 cameras would come down under the state order (News4JAX, Oct. 7). Sheriff Rob Hardwick has defended the cameras, citing 2026 figures that include 29 stolen vehicles recovered, 35 wanted people arrested and 35 missing people found, and the office said in September it had cut data retention to 30 days, limited access and stopped sharing data with outside agencies (News4JAX). Asked at the meeting whether the data had ever been misused, a Sheriff's Office director said its audits found one case, a detective who searched the system for a vehicle he was personally buying, and that he was disciplined (Action News Jax).

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