Pinellas Votes 10/27 on Vince Nowicki's Plan to End County Ties to License Plate Cameras

After a month of delay and an hour-long defense of the cameras by the sheriff, the question goes to a formal vote. Here is what is on the table.

From the official website of Vince Nowicki · · 6 min read

Commissioner Vince Nowicki speaking on license plate cameras at the 10/8/26 Pinellas County Commission work session.
Commissioner Vince Nowicki speaking on license plate cameras at the 10/8/26 Pinellas County Commission work session. Image: Pinellas County Government meeting video.

Key facts

  • The vote is set. The Commission's 10/27/26 meeting (2:00 p.m., Palm Room, 333 Chestnut St., Clearwater) lists Commissioner Nowicki's Automated License Plate Reader Resolution under item 34, County Commission New Business (file 26-1189A).
  • What it does. It ends county contracts, subscriptions and data sharing with Flock Safety, Axon and other license plate reader providers, removes the cameras from county-controlled roads and rights-of-way within 30 days, and bars new agreements.
  • The cost. The sheriff told commissioners on 10/8/26 that the Flock Safety contract costs $287,000 a year.
  • Pinellas would not be alone. At least nine Florida sheriffs, including Duval, Pasco, Volusia and Okaloosa, have ended or suspended their plate reader programs since August.
  • The record. A now-former Pinellas deputy is accused of running roughly 300 license plate reader searches on a woman he had arrested and later pursued. The existing audits did not catch it.

The vote

Florida Politics reported on 10/16/26 that commissioners "will finally vote Oct. 27" on Commissioner Nowicki's proposal, "bringing the fight over privacy and police oversight to a head." The vote was delayed in September so the sheriff could make his case. He did that at the 10/8/26 work session. Now every commissioner will go on the record.

What the resolution does

  • Ends county contracts, subscriptions and data-sharing agreements with Flock Safety, Axon and other license plate reader providers.
  • Removes the cameras from county-controlled roads and rights-of-way within 30 days.
  • Keeps the county from entering new agreements for the technology.
  • Urges the Sheriff's Office and city police departments to end their own use of the readers.
  • Directs county staff to report on where the cameras are, who owns them and what removal costs.

Why it matters

"Public safety is job one, and I support our deputies," Commissioner Nowicki told Poliverse. "Tracking someone who's committed a crime is good police work. Logging every law-abiding resident's drive and keeping it for up to three years is different. The line is simple: government should track criminals, not collect everyone's movements just in case."

These cameras photograph every car that passes, whether or not the driver is suspected of anything, and the data can be kept for three years under Florida law. "These cameras, ALPRs, are essentially dragnet surveillance," Commissioner Nowicki said at the 10/8/26 work session, as reported by Florida Politics.

His position has not changed: "public safety and personal liberty are not competing goals, and government should track suspects based on evidence and not collect everyone's movement just in case."

The safeguards already failed

The case for keeping the cameras rests on audits and oversight. Pinellas has already seen what happens when those fail. Florida Politics reported that one now-former deputy "allegedly conducted roughly 300 license plate reader searches involving a woman he had previously arrested and later pursued romantically," and that the sheriff "acknowledged existing audits failed to detect the searches." The sheriff has also said that added safeguards cannot guarantee an officer will never abuse the system. (Both former deputies have been charged, not convicted.)

When a system logs everyone, one bad actor can track anyone. The surest way to protect that data is not to collect it.

The courts are catching up

On 10/1/26, U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill ruled in United States v. Kyle that a warrantless search of a driver's license plate reader history violated the Fourth Amendment, calling these systems "a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance." The ruling is from a trial court in Oklahoma and is not binding in Florida.

Courts that have upheld the cameras lean on United States v. Knotts (1983), a case about police following one suspect with a radio beeper. That same Court said that if "dragnet type law enforcement practices" ever arrived, "there will be time enough then to determine whether different constitutional principles may be applicable." Cameras that log every passing car are that practice.

Florida sheriffs have already pulled the plug

"We wouldn't be alone," Commissioner Nowicki told Poliverse. "More than two dozen Florida sheriffs have already pulled these cameras, including Duval, Pasco, Volusia, Okaloosa, Nassau, Putnam, Bradford, Liberty and Wakulla." Poliverse wrote that the number "has not been independently verified." The public record backs him up. Each of the nine sheriffs he named has said so in public:

  • Duval: Sheriff T.K. Waters announced on 8/31/26 that his office would stop using Flock cameras "effectively immediately."
  • Pasco: Sheriff Chris Nocco ended the agreement for about 60 cameras on county roads, effective 9/30/26, then canceled a planned switch to Axon. "That is why we are ending our LPR agreements," he said.
  • Volusia: Sheriff Mike Chitwood shut down license plate readers "effective immediately."
  • Okaloosa: The Sheriff's Office announced it is "removing and suspending" all of its Flock cameras.
  • Nassau: The Sheriff's Office said it will comply with the FDOT order, which covers the 34 Flock cameras it runs across the county.
  • Putnam: Sheriff H.D. DeLoach ordered all of the county's license plate reader cameras disconnected at once and removed within 30 days.
  • Bradford: Sheriff Gordon Smith: "I am also directing our office to stop using LPR technology anywhere in Bradford County, effective immediately."
  • Liberty: Sheriff Dusty Arnold ended the program on state and county roads, and deputies put bags over the cameras.
  • Wakulla: Sheriff Jared Miller ended his office's use of the cameras, and deputies unplugged and covered every one.

The count goes beyond those nine. The Tallahassee Democrat reported on 9/1/26 that "more than two dozen of Florida's 67 counties have decided to take down their Flock cameras." Leon, Franklin and Gadsden counties have also ended or suspended their programs.

The state moved first

On 8/31/26, FDOT ordered license plate readers off state highway rights-of-way, citing "concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes." That order forced 23 of the Sheriff's Office's 73 fixed readers and six of St. Petersburg's 50 Flock cameras down, but left county and city roads untouched. The 10/27 resolution applies the same standard to roads the county controls.

What the vote can do

The resolution covers county government. Cities run their own programs, and the sheriff is independently elected. But as Florida Politics put it, approval "would pull county government out of the system and remove county-controlled roads from a surveillance network."

The meeting is public. Residents can attend or comment on 10/27/26. Read the full background in Vince Nowicki on License Plate Cameras and Your Privacy.

Sources

Every fact and quote above comes from the published reporting and public records listed here.

  1. Jesse Mendoza, "Pinellas to vote on Vince Nowicki's Flock camera ban after Bob Gualtieri's fierce defense," Florida Politics, 10/16/26. floridapolitics.com
  2. Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners, File 26-1189A, County Commission New Business, 10/27/26 regular meeting. pinellas.legistar.com
  3. Aaron Styza, "Pinellas County Commission to vote on Flock camera ban," Poliverse, 10/16/26. poliverse
  4. "Which Florida counties are removing Flock cameras?" Tallahassee Democrat, 9/1/26. www.tallahassee.com
  5. "County-by-County: How area sheriffs are responding to FDOT's order to remove Flock cameras," Action News Jax, 8/31/26. www.actionnewsjax.com
  6. Spectrum News Staff, "Pasco County sheriff Nocco ending Flock, license plate detection systems," Bay News 9, 8/26/26. baynews9.com
  7. "Pasco County Sheriff's Office Details Proposed $9M Drones as First Responder Program," Hernando Sun, 9/2/26. www.hernandosun.com
  8. "Volusia County Sheriff's Office shuts down flock cameras after state guidance," Observer Local News, 9/1/26. www.observerlocalnews.com
  9. Anthony Montalto, "All Putnam County Flock cameras discontinued as FDOT calls for removal on state roads," WUFT, 8/31/26. www.wuft.org
  10. "Liberty County covers Flock cameras with trash bags after deactivation," WJHG, 9/1/26. www.wjhg.com
  11. "Leon, Wakulla, Franklin, and Liberty counties suspend license plate reader programs," WTXL, 9/1/26. www.wtxl.com
  12. Julia Miller, "Gadsden County commissioners vote to end flock agreement," WCTV, 9/14/26. www.wctv.tv
  13. WFLA, "Pinellas County officials discuss future of license plate reader contracts," 10/8/26. www.wfla.com
  14. Chad Mills, "Pinellas Co. commissioner calls for removing Flock cameras from county roads," ABC Action News (WFTS), 9/1/26. www.tampabay28.com
  15. Spectrum News Staff, "FDOT orders removal of Flock cameras along Florida state highways," Bay News 9, 8/31/26. baynews9.com
  16. United States v. Kyle, No. 26-CR-00189-SEH (N.D. Okla. 10/1/26). storage.courtlistener.com
  17. United States v. Knotts, 460 U.S. 276 (1983). supreme.justia.com

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