BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey announced Monday that his agency has terminated its use of Flock license plate reader cameras effective immediately, and has also suspended the agency’s access to the Flock database throughout the county, including cameras mounted on private property.
Ivey delivered the announcement in a video message to residents, framing it as a pause rather than a permanent break with the technology.
“There’s absolutely no doubt that Flock cameras and the data they collect are an amazing tool for law enforcement,” Ivey said, adding that the system had already helped the agency solve a significant number of serious crimes.
But he said the concerns raised by residents over recent weeks centered on something his agency does not control: what the company does with the information.
Ivey pointed to “the availability of the collected data to others, the method the company collects the data in, and the access of the data the company affords to others,” calling it a concern serious enough to warrant a pause until Florida lawmakers can establish rules balancing privacy rights against law enforcement needs.
What Brevard is shutting down
Ivey said the sheriff’s office had used Flock cameras for roughly a year, and that every camera the agency installed was placed along major thoroughfares such as Interstate 95 and State Road 528. He described the total number as minimal.
According to the sheriff, the action taken Monday has three parts. First, in partnership with Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation, he fully terminated the agency’s use of Flock cameras along those thoroughfares. Second, he directed staff to have each camera assigned to BCSO physically removed from its location and the agency’s access to that camera’s data ended. Third, he suspended the agency’s access to the broader Flock database across Brevard County, including cameras installed by private property owners.
That third step goes beyond what the state ordered. The governor’s action covers cameras in state highway rights of way. Privately installed cameras, and cameras on city and county roads, are outside its scope.
The policy Ivey says was already in place
Ivey used a portion of the video to defend how the agency had operated the system. He said BCSO established an internal policy from the outset that restricted which employees could initiate a Flock search, limited how long collected data was retained, required an active criminal investigation before data could be reviewed, and included an audit system verifying that each search was tied to an actual case number.
The policy also prohibited using the cameras for traffic enforcement of any kind, he said, and required that inquiries relate to criminal cases or to missing or endangered persons.
“Even though our agency had strong policies in place to protect our citizens’ right to privacy, I still understand the concern,” Ivey said.
He said he expects state lawmakers to write protections that restore the technology as a law enforcement tool while guaranteeing privacy rights.
The state order that preceded it
The announcement came the same day the Florida Department of Transportation revoked every existing permit for automated license plate readers installed by local agencies in state highway rights of way. The memorandum, signed by FDOT chief operating officer and assistant secretary Will Watts, gives agencies 30 days to remove the devices and says the department will take down any that remain. FDOT also said it will stop approving new installations, citing an exponential increase in deployments along with reports of misuse and data privacy concerns.
DeSantis had signaled the move days earlier. “I think it’s out of control,” the governor said when asked about license plate readers, adding that he supports giving law enforcement investigative tools but does not want Florida to become a “surveillance state.” He estimated that the large majority of Florida’s roughly 7,500 license plate readers sit on local rather than state roads, and said the Legislature should address the issue.
Sheriffs across Florida responded within hours. Putnam County Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach ordered all 18 of his agency’s cameras disconnected immediately and removed within 30 days, citing an evolving statewide and national discussion over privacy and data sharing. Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced the same, calling the technology an enormously valuable investigative tool but saying the state decision and community concerns made discontinuing it the appropriate course. Nassau, Clay, Liberty and Franklin counties also announced shutdowns Monday.
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco had already moved to end his agency’s program, terminating its interlocal agreement effective Sept. 30 after county commissioners withdrew support for roughly 60 cameras in county rights of way.
The Brevard backdrop
The privacy debate arrived in Brevard with a local case attached. Earlier this month, records obtained by News 6 revealed that BCSO’s 2025 Deputy of the Year, Michael Fultz, resigned in May as Ivey moved to terminate him following an internal affairs investigation into what the sheriff described as egregious misconduct.
Among the substantiated findings: an audit showed Fultz searched his ex-girlfriend’s license plate in the Flock database before a shift and labeled the search an investigation. The internal inquiry began in March, on the same day Fultz was honored with the award, after his ex-girlfriend contacted the agency.
“The nature and severity of your misconduct has irreparably damaged the trust required to perform the duties of a deputy sheriff,” Ivey wrote in a memo to Fultz.
Elsewhere in Brevard, Palm Bay suspended its own Flock cameras this month over permitting and installation problems rather than privacy, then restored the system after the city verified locations and cleared the paperwork. Three cameras were vandalized while the system was offline. Palm Bay’s cameras sit on city streets and are not covered by the FDOT order.
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