Manatee County commissioners voted 5-0 Tuesday to block approval of Flock license plate reader cameras at county parks, facilities and buildings, citing privacy concerns about the technology.

The action does not remove the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office’s existing automated license plate readers, including a Flock camera on University Parkway in Lakewood Ranch. The sheriff’s office operates 79 Flock cameras and 134 automated license plate readers across all brands countywide, with annual associated service costs of $397,036, according to Your Observer.

The motion also requires future applications for license plate-reading cameras to come before the commission for approval. Commissioner Amanda Ballard introduced the motion, which Commissioner Tal Siddique seconded, The Bradenton Times reported.

“I’m going to be honest, I want these dang things gone,” Commissioner Jason Bearden said during the meeting.

Bearden questioned when commissioners needed to take a stand against monitoring residents. Commissioner Mike Rahn, while voting for the measure, said the technology has helped authorities recover an abducted child and acknowledged its law enforcement value.

Sarasota arrest heightened scrutiny

The vote followed weeks of intensifying concern over plate reader misuse. On Aug. 19, former Sarasota police officer Cory Waiters, 38, was arrested on felony charges of official misconduct and unauthorized computer access after investigators found that he searched the same license plate 358 times between May and October 2025 without an active criminal investigation. A USA TODAY reporter alerted Sarasota police after noticing unusual patterns in publicly available Flock search records.

A Washington Post investigation published in early August found that at least 50 law enforcement officers nationwide had been charged with or accused of misusing plate reader systems.

Sheriff says MCSO cameras unaffected

Sheriff Rick Wells said his office has no plate readers at county parks, facilities or buildings and has no plans to install them. He said any video surveillance at county parks is owned and operated by Manatee County government, not the sheriff’s office.

Wells has defended the technology at prior commission meetings, calling Flock a “game changer” and saying the agency has used it to arrest 137 felons over the past two years. Between 2024 and 2026, automated plate readers helped deputies arrest or locate 191 people, according to reporting on the sheriff’s office. Over roughly five years, the technology also assisted investigations involving 37 homicide suspects, 54 people suspected of vehicle theft and 23 missing or endangered people.

Short version: The vote does not remove existing sheriff’s office cameras. It blocks approval of readers at county parks, facilities and buildings and requires future camera applications to go before the commission.

The vote occurred Tuesday, Aug. 25, not Wednesday, and it does not remove existing sheriff’s office cameras. The principal correction is that the measure blocks approval of readers at county parks, facilities and buildings while requiring future applications to go before commissioners.