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On 31 August 2026 the Florida Department of Transportation issued a memorandum signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Will Watts, revoking all general-use permits previously granted to local law enforcement agencies for the placement of automated licence plate reader (ALPR) equipment within state road rights-of-way. Agencies were given 30 days to remove the equipment, a deadline falling on 30 September 2026. Vendors affected include Flock Safety, the largest supplier in the category.
The memorandum's stated rationale, as reported, cited the recent exponential increase in deployments along state roadways together with reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes, framed as protecting Floridians' sovereignty and quality of life.
SCOPE — THE CRITICAL LIMIT: the order reaches only state-controlled roads. Reporting puts roughly 98 percent of existing ALPR installations on local roads and private property, none of which this order touches. Coverage describing Florida as banning Flock cameras statewide overstates what the memorandum does.
DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN SOURCES ON ENFORCEMENT, recorded rather than resolved: Engadget reports that the document specifies no penalty for non-compliance and states only that the department will cease issuing future LPR permit requests. WEAR-TV reports that FDOT will remove the devices directly if agencies do not. Both cannot be right about the memorandum's text, and the memorandum itself has not been obtained for this archive.
Reported agency response: sheriffs in Jacksonville and Okaloosa County indicated they would remove their systems.
UPDATE 2026-09-07 — THE ENFORCEMENT DISAGREEMENT IS RESOLVED. This entry originally recorded a conflict: Engadget reported the memorandum specifies no penalty for non-compliance and says only that FDOT will cease issuing future permits, while WEAR-TV reported FDOT would remove the devices itself. Two further outlets (WTSP and ABC News) since corroborate the second reading: if an agency does not remove the equipment within the 30-day window, FDOT removes it. Three sources to one. The original disagreement is left on the record above rather than deleted, because how a fact was established is part of the fact. The memorandum itself is still not held by this archive and would settle it outright.