Florida pulls license plate readers from state highways after Texas freezes Flock funding

Florida's Department of Transportation has revoked permits for automated license plate readers installed along state highways, giving the state 30 days to take the devices down. According to The Verge, which cites earlier reporting from NBC News and local outlet WUSF, a Monday memo also halts any new requests to place readers on state roadways. TechCrunch reports that the order sweeps in cameras from Flock, one of the largest suppliers of the technology in the country.

The decision lands shortly after Governor Ron DeSantis publicly criticized the technology, calling it "out of control" at a press conference. TechCrunch dates those remarks to last Wednesday, while The Verge describes them as coming roughly a week before the memo.

Texas moved first

Florida is following a lead set by Texas. TechCrunch reports that Texas ordered state agencies to stop funding Flock cameras last week, with Governor Greg Abbott's office citing abuse of the surveillance system — most notably the indictment of a police officer in Lufkin on 100 felony counts, tied to allegations that he searched Flock's database to track people without authorization. The Verge, however, dates Abbott's spending freeze to last month, so the two reports differ on the exact timing of Texas's action.

Abbott's office did not say which agencies would be affected, though TechCrunch notes local reporting that Dallas could be broadly hit, with hundreds of Flock cameras operating throughout the city.

Pressure has been building on Flock

According to TechCrunch, Flock has roughly 130,000 license plate readers deployed across the United States. The scrutiny has come from across the political spectrum, driven by reports of cybersecurity issues, officers misusing database access to stalk former partners, and accuracy problems that have led to police stops and wrongful arrests. Recent reporting also suggests the company is moving beyond scanning plates toward technology that identifies and tracks people directly.

Individual communities have pushed back as well. The Verge reports that Lansing, Michigan; Tempe, Arizona; and Knox County, Tennessee, have all ended their Flock contracts. TechCrunch adds that Evanston, Illinois; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Eugene, Oregon, say Flock reinstalled or reactivated cameras even after local officials terminated their agreements — raising the question of whether Florida's removal order will actually stick.

Florida's memo, as quoted by both outlets, points to a "recent exponential increase in deployments" of the readers, combined with "concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes."

Open questions about removal

TechCrunch says it asked Flock whether the company plans to let Florida and Texas remove their cameras, or whether it intends to reinstall or reactivate them elsewhere. A company spokesperson did not respond. For now, Florida's 30-day clock is running, and no new reader placements will be approved on state roads.

Why it matters

Two of the country's largest states, both led by governors who have generally been receptive to law-enforcement technology, are publicly reversing course on a surveillance vendor that until recently expanded with little friction. That shift shows how quickly mass location tracking has become a bipartisan political liability, and it puts Flock's core business — a national camera network feeding shared databases — under sustained scrutiny.

The practical outcome is less certain. If Flock has reactivated cameras in towns that cancelled their contracts, as several communities allege, a state-level ban may require enforcement well beyond a single memo. Other states and cities watching Florida's 30-day removal will learn whether orders like this genuinely end surveillance programs or simply push the cameras off state highways.