Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner is vowing to fight back against orders by the Florida Department of Transportation to pull the plug on all Flock cameras along state-run roads and highways. While many drivers likely have not seen the relatively small recording devices, the Flock cameras stationed along several roads see hundreds of vehicles driving through countless high traffic areas in South Florida. FDOT’s order now gives agencies across the state 30 days to remove all license plate readers like those Flock cameras from state roads. Meiner spoke with 7News on Tuesday, arguing that these cameras have provided a boon for local law enforcement in solving crimes. He also questions how effectively they can carry out community safety measures without the Flock license plate readers. “License plate readers have solved crimes. It’s helped trace cars of violent criminals and taking guns off our streets, it’s helped find missing persons, it’s helped solve crimes of vehicle thefts, it’s led to arrests of serious criminals off our streets,” said Meiner. Meiner said FDOT’s order would impact approximately half of the city’s active license plate readers. “The causeways leading up into Miami Beach are state roads, but also Collins Avenue, Alton [Road], parts of 41st Street, these are all state roads. We have roughly 40 LPRs, approximately half, roughly half are potentially on state roads,” said Meiner. Meiner plans to introduce local legislation to “take back control of our roads.” The cameras have led to nationwide controversy due to the large swath of location data it could collect on any driver that passes through, leading to bipartisan criticism from officials and concerns over privacy for citizens. Despite those concerns, some residents in Miami Beach said Flock cameras have been a saving grace in unexpected ways. “I got rear-ended a few months ago, and they hit-and-ran me and I had to use one of the streetlight cameras to get their license plate, and it really helped me out,” said Miami Beach resident Harbor Fletcher. Others echoed growing concerns about the ease with which officials could potentially track residents for non-criminal activity and a private database that would keep those details on record. “They’re mainly focusing on our privacy, where we are, what are we doing, how are we driving, our driving records; they’re not really catching criminals, right? So take them down, we need some privacy,” said Miami Beach resident Emily Martinez. Monday’s memorandum from FDOT stressed privacy concerns as one of the primary reasons for revoking permits for license plate readers. It also highlighted reports of misuse of the surveillance technology. “The recent exponential increase in deployments along our roadways, coupled with concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes merit immediate action to preserve Floridians’ sovereignty and quality of life,” the statement read. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis questioned where all the data captured by these cameras would be stored, saying there’s been no oversight of that information. He also called for legislative action to prevent the state from becoming “a digital surveillance state.” “So there’s obviously times where I think it’s probably been useful, but where is this data going? How much data is the companies doing?” said DeSantis. “They claim that the companies aren’t going to misuse it, but no one is watching that.” The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and Fort Lauderdale Police have both released statements announcing that they would be complying with state-mandated orders to remove Flock cameras from all state roads. ...read more read less