Seven Miami-Dade County Mayors want Tallahassee to slow down before police cameras start coming off the road.
The group, led by Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner, signed a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Secretary Jared Perdue seeking a halt to the agency’s order stripping automated license plate readers (LPRs), provided by vendors like Flock Safety, from state rights-of-way within 30 days.
Instead of a wholesale purge, they want a petition process letting well-run municipal programs survive under tighter state auditing and data-governance rules.
It’s the first organized municipal counteroffensive against a directive that has otherwise met swift compliance from Sheriffs and Police Chiefs statewide.
FDOT pulled the plug on the cameras Aug. 31 through a Monday memorandum that revoked every general use permit for LPR systems on the State Highway System and shut off future applications.
Assistant Secretary Will Watts cited a rapid buildup of devices alongside reports of abuse. If anything still stands after the deadline, the memo warned, FDOT will pull it down.
Critics of LPR technology say the cameras, which log plate numbers alongside a vehicle’s make, model, color, location and timestamp, amount to a dragnet on drivers accused of nothing.
DeSantis has pointed to a case in which a Florida officer allegedly used the network to track his estranged wife hundreds of times. State agencies have drawn scrutiny. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reportedly surveilled its critics, while the Florida Highway Patrol tapped private camera networks for immigration enforcement.
Meiner asked for enforcement of the deadline to be paused, a formal process for local law enforcement to seek continued LPR use under enhanced state oversight, a “seat at the table” for localities and their police forces in drafting statewide LPR regulations and clear, published criteria distinguishing responsible LPR use from misuse.
“I am not asking the Department or the Governor to ignore legitimate privacy concerns,” he wrote. “I am asking for the opportunity to solve this problem together, through accountability and oversight, not blanket removal of a tool that has helped our city solve serious crimes and bring closure to victims and families.”
Joining Meiner as cosigners to the Tuesday letter were Mayors Bernard Klepach of Indian Creek Village, Isaac Salver of Bay Harbor Islands, Seth Salver of Bal Harbour Village, Glenn Singer of Golden Beach, Larisa Svechin of Sunny Isles Beach and Howard Weinberg of Aventura.
Meiner said additional signatures may follow.
Roughly half of Miami Beach’s approximately 40 readers sit on state roads, including stretches of Collins Avenue, Meiner told WLRN. He credits the technology with tracking getaway vehicles, seizing firearms and narcotics, recovering stolen cars and closing violent crime cases, and calls it indispensable during Spring Break.
The city’s units come from Motorola Solutions and Axon. Police spokesman Christopher Bess told Axios the Department is still weighing its response.
Elsewhere in the county, agencies aren’t waiting. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and Doral Police are suspending their programs entirely, not just units on state roads. Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said in a statement that safety and constitutional protections “aren’t competing values.”
County Commissioners Danielle Cohen Higgins and Rene Garcia sided with the state, NBC 6 reported, with both saying the surveillance web had grown past acceptable limits.
At the state level, CFO Blaise Ingoglia endorsed the removals, telling cities to move fast before the equipment gets vandalized, and Attorney General James Uthmeier said he wants statutory guardrails before any LPRs are put back in service.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds has also backed the move without reservation, while his Democratic foe, David Jolly, is pressing for a Special Session.
Florida had close to 7,500 LPRs before the order, with DeSantis estimating 98% are under local control and untouched by the memo.
The post 7 Miami-Dade Mayors ask Gov. DeSantis to hit the brakes on Flock camera purge appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..