St. Johns County Commissioners Vote 3-2 to Remove Flock License Plate Cameras From County Roads

Commissioners Sarah Arnold, Ann Taylor and Christian Whitehurst voted to revoke the permits, according to JaxToday. Chair Clay Murphy and Commissioner Krista Joseph voted against. The decision covers about 45 cameras on county-maintained roads.

Whitehurst, who made the motion, said he did not expect it to pass, according to Action News Jax. Arnold said she did not want to remove a tool that helps law enforcement but that the technology had outpaced its safeguards. Joseph called removal "radical" and said cell phones are "more insidious" than Flock cameras.

The decision applies to county roads only. Cameras on state roads were already ordered removed by the state, and cameras owned by homeowners associations and community development districts can stay and keep sharing data with the Sheriff's Office. Whitehurst said he would favor restoring the cameras once state lawmakers add regulations.

Supporters of the cameras included the family of Tristyn Bailey, a St. Johns County teen killed in 2021, who said the readers gave them hope during her disappearance. Others raised privacy concerns and urged removal. Resident Debra Campbell, who has led a petition against the cameras that she says has more than 1,000 signatures, has said cameras captured her plate 154 times in 30 days. Those figures are hers and have not been independently verified.

Sheriff Rob Hardwick, who missed the meeting, said on social media that the decision "encroaches on my ability to keep our community safe," and that his office will keep working to bring the technology back. After an internal audit, his office says it shares local data with no outside agencies and that about 70 Sheriff's Office personnel can access it. A Sheriff's Office representative said the office would resume sharing data with other agencies only if the Legislature passes sweeping statewide rules.

Earlier in the fall, Hardwick said license plate data retention was cut from three years to 30 days and cited 2026 results including recovered stolen vehicles and arrests of wanted people.

The Sheriff's Office plans to pursue reinstating the readers, and the Legislature could take up regulations when it convenes in January. Sources differ on how many cameras were affected and who ordered the removal from state roads, so this article uses the county-road figure reported by JaxToday.

St. Johns Standard will follow the issue.