01/22/2026
We didn't write this however we completely agree. This needs to be stopped or at the very least, put to a vote immediately!
Information is a follows:
Okaloosa County residents: I’m asking you to sign and share my petition to ban Flock license-plate reader (ALPR) cameras in Okaloosa County, or at minimum force a public vote and an immediate moratorium until strict safeguards are adopted.
Here are the core issues, briefly and clearly:
1. No public vote, limited public process
This system was not put to voters. Local reporting indicates that some camera permitting/approvals happened at the staff level without a full public discussion, and it surprised at least some officials that the cameras were going up. A surveillance program of this scale should never be implemented without open debate and a clear public mandate.
2. This is not “just crime cameras”
ALPR systems record license plate data tied to time and location and make it searchable. Over time, that can reveal routines and “pattern of life” for ordinary people: where you go, when you go, how often, and in what patterns. That affects everyone, not just criminals.
3. The surveillance web is expanding beyond roads
Flock promotes network-style searching and sharing across jurisdictions, meaning this can function as part of a larger ecosystem rather than a purely local tool. Separately, large retailers have used ALPR technology, and Flock has announced a partnership with Ring that streamlines how agencies can request neighborhood doorbell video through Ring’s Community Requests. The concern is not that police automatically have access to everything—it’s that the infrastructure to stitch together daily life is becoming normalized and easier to use.
4. Misuse and exposure are not hypothetical
There are documented cases in other jurisdictions where plate reader systems (including Flock) were misused by insiders to track people for personal reasons. In addition, any system that can be searched can be exposed—through stolen credentials, misconfiguration, or insider abuse. Location history is especially valuable to bad actors because it can reveal routines and when someone is likely to be home or away.
5. The cost is permanent and grows over time
This is subscription surveillance. The cameras are not something the public can “buy once and own.” It is an ongoing contract structure that requires annual payments and typically expands as more cameras are added. Even at today’s scale, the subscription cost alone is roughly $200,000 per year for the current deployment. Costs can rise year over year through price increases, renewals, and expansion, and taxpayers remain locked in.
6. The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to remove
The most important point: systems like this become embedded in day-to-day operations. Once agencies build procedures around them and the county’s infrastructure adapts to them, the program becomes “too ingrained to unwind” without major disruption and expense. That is exactly why the time to act is now—before this becomes permanent, normalized, and financially painful to remove.
If you agree that Okaloosa should not build a long-term surveillance grid without a public vote and strict limits, please sign and share the petition. It takes two minutes and it matters.
Petition link:
Okaloosa Deserves Privacy: Put Flock Cameras to a Public Vote
