DeFlock Tampa

Tampa Bay

What exactly is Flock, and why are people making such a big deal about it?

Hillsborough is home. The Fourth Amendment is not optional. This is more than a camera system. Flock Safety is a nationwide searchable network. Each hit is a vehicle record. Some customers also get an AI search tool. It is not a neighborhood pole that stays in a locked city drawer.

How long a scan lasts

Think of one drive-by as one file. The company's current default (announced 13 Aug 2026) is to delete that file after 7 days.

A later drive-by is a different file with its own 7-day clock. Wednesday does not keep Tuesday's photo. Wednesday also does not erase Wednesday's photo just because Tuesday's time ran out.

If you keep driving past cameras, new files keep appearing. The 7-day rule does not mean the network forgets you as a person. It means each unsaved scan is supposed to drop off after a week.

Agencies can choose a longer window than 7 days. Existing customers keep the window they already approved unless they switch. A saved hit (Evidence Mode) and search or audit logs sit on a different schedule. Plant City, TPD, and HCSO configured days are not published on this site. § 316.0778 tells DOS and FDLE to set a maximum schedule. The statute itself does not say 90 days or three years. Agencies quote GS2 Item 217 as a maximum of three anniversary years. Florida is not a 90-day ALPR state. Brand pages: ALPRs.

DeFlock Tampa is a local civic campaign. It is not legal advice, not a call to interfere with cameras, and not affiliated with Flock Safety.

If the system were ordinary and safe, cities would notice a town hall and put the vendor in the chair. They have not. That is not only a Plant City point. If it is so safe, why is it quiet?

What they are actually doing · DeSantis, Wednesday · This week

01

What they are actually doing

This week produced headlines that can be read as a win. Read the official items. The cameras are not gone. Manatee's press 5-0 is not a sheriff pull. St. Pete's posted item was a referral request. Clerk action-taken is not posted.

Pasco: the county-road deal ends. The readers do not.

26 Aug 2026 · letter reprint

Official interlocal: Dec. 10, 2024 consent item C10, file CAO25-0003. Clerk minutes show consent approved and C10 was not pulled. Those minutes do not print unanimous. Tampa Bay 28 reprints a sheriff letter terminating that interlocal effective Sept. 30, 2026, under Section 3, paragraph 3. Official letter PDF is not posted. The letter does not name Flock or Axon. It is not a 26 Aug board vote. "Removed" is headline language, not a physical-pull order for every sheriff reader.

The reprint says private and FDOT readers stay. A vendor switch is a separate press story, not this letter.

Tampa Bay 28, Erik Waxler, 26 Aug 2026 → · Pasco page →

Manatee: a discussion of authority. Not a sheriff takedown.

25 Aug 2026 · official item 66

Official Regular BOCC item 66 / 68559 is "Flock Cameras," a commissioner discussion of authority to ban or control Flock within Commission jurisdiction. The cover has no recommended motion, dollars, count, or parks language. Official minutes are not posted. Press says a 5-0 not to put new cameras on county parks and buildings. That is press. It is not a sheriff pull.

Official OnBase meeting 783 → · Manatee page →

St. Pete: the posted item was a referral to committee.

27 Aug 2026 · G-1

Official G-1 is Vice-Chair Floyd's request to refer the Flock contract and camera use to committee. Press says council sent it. Clerk action-taken is not posted. A referral is not a pull. The cameras stay.

Official packet → · St. Pete page → · Pinellas →

02

DeSantis, Wednesday in Miami

Wed 26 Aug 2026 · morning presser · FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus

This was not a Flock speech. The announced event was the first CORE emergency-management rollout with FDEM director Jared Perdue. A reporter asked about the cameras. He answered.

Watch

No official transcript. The Florida Channel had not posted a 26 Aug gavel-to-gavel page as of Wednesday night (they usually take about a day). No timestamped official clip is on this page yet. Current local package with the Flock answers: NBC 6, Steve Litz. Written clip sheet: Florida Politics.

What he said
"I think these cameras, the license plate readers, I think it's out of control." He said it "needs to be overhauled for sure." He wants law enforcement tools to hold criminals accountable. "But I don't want to have this become a surveillance state." "Go after criminals, great. Let's all do that. But surveilling just regular Floridians' movements and how that data's used, that's a bird of a different feather." On an officer using the system to track an ex: "What the hell's going on with this?" He said people are right to be concerned. "The only way it could be dealt with is legislatively." He is reviewing New Hampshire as "a good place to start." He said he has never supported automatic speeding tickets. "I think a human being has to do that."
What he did not say
He did not tell cities or sheriffs to pull the cameras. He did not announce a ban, a pause, an executive order, a bill number, or a timetable. His office told Florida Politics there is no "intel" yet on a special session. The official press release never mentions Flock.
What that means here
An overhaul that keeps the poles and adds rules is still the same network. Protections, 30-day clocks, case-number searches, and "we don't share with ICE" lines do not make a nationwide searchable plate file safe for this country. No amount of safeguards can. The bulk of the cameras, he said himself, sit with police and sheriff departments. Plant City, Tampa, St. Pete, and Pasco still have to take them down. Tallahassee saying "overhaul" is not a local pull. This push does not stop.

Florida Politics: DeSantis on Flock. CBS 12. News4JAX. WLRN / Florida Phoenix. Official CORE release (no Flock): flgov.com.

03

Next actions

This stretch

August 2026
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  1. 24 Mon Plant City item 26-388 is still a presentation on the clerk agenda page. Official minutes are not posted. FOX 13 is press. Zephyrhills 6:00 PM was not a Flock hearing.
  2. 25 Tue Pasco BOCC (no titled Flock item; minutes not posted). Manatee Item 66 discussion of Flock authority (minutes not posted).
  3. 26 Wed Tampa remote comment cutoff closed. DeSantis answered Flock questions at FIU. Nocco letter reprint on the Pasco interlocal.
  4. 27 Thu Tampa regular: agendas posted, no Flock item, minutes not posted. St. Pete G-1: posted referral request; press says sent; clerk action-taken not posted. Walden Lake open house 5:30 PM (not Flock).
  5. 2 Sep Hillsborough BOCC (no Flock title verified)

Plant City: Monday (done)

24 Aug 2026 · 6:00 PM

Official: item 26-388 is still listed as a Flock Camera Presentation on the clerk agenda page. Official minutes are not posted. FOX 13 is press for what happened in the room (Mills on 30-day retention and +22 cameras still going in). Do not treat that story as the clerk outcome.

FOX 13 story, 24 Aug 2026 → · Full Plant City page →

Zephyrhills: Monday

24 Aug 2026 · 6:00 PM

East Pasco. City Council, Council Chambers, City Hall, 5335 8th Street, Zephyrhills, FL 33542. Posted public-hearing items are land-development and utility/sanitation rate ordinances. They are not Flock. Same building earlier: Budget Workshop 4:00 PM, CRA 5:00 PM. This page does not invent a Flock comment window or a time limit. If the city allows general public comment, you can still speak. The night before the Pasco BOCC.

Pasco page (Zephyrhills block) → · City calendar

Pasco: Wednesday letter

26 Aug 2026

Official C10 interlocal is on the clerk record. The 26 Aug letter, as reprinted, terminates it effective Sept. 30. Official letter PDF is not posted. That is not a physical pull of every sheriff reader. What they are actually doing.

Full Pasco page →

St. Pete: Thursday

27 Aug 2026 · 1:30 PM

Official G-1 is a referral request, not a cancel. Press says council sent it. Clerk action-taken is not posted. The cameras stay. A 5:01 PM public hearing the same day is utility rates, not Flock.

Full St. Pete page → · Pinellas →

Tampa: Thursday morning

27 Aug 2026 · 9:00 AM

Official Regular, addendum, and CRA special agendas are posted. No Flock, ALPR, or license-plate item. Minutes are not posted. Do not invent a Flock outcome. Hillsborough BOCC 2 Sep is also not a verified Flock hearing.

Tampa page →

I-4 corridor: Dover meetings

29 Aug 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM · 1 Sep 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Official Planning Commission study. Round 3 compares three maps. Not a zoning change. Not a Flock hearing. Bailey Elementary cafeteria, 4630 Gallagher Rd, Dover. Thursday virtual recording is not posted.

Walkthrough and how to comment without a chair →

04

City pages

05

Florida records, not FOIA

Florida public records are Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, and Article I, section 24 of the Florida Constitution, not the federal FOIA. Ask for contracts, invoices, sharing settings, audit policies, and staff reports.

s. 316.0777, F.S. makes confidential and exempt: (a) images and data containing or providing personal identifying information obtained through an ALPR; and (b) personal identifying information of an individual in data generated from those images. Do not expect plate images or owner PII in a 119 release. Contracts and dollar figures are a different request.

Speak civilly. Stay on the record. This site does not advise anyone to touch, block, disable, or approach a camera.

Statute text: Florida Senate, s. 316.0777 (2025); Chapter 119; Fla. House staff analysis of § 316.0778 / R. 1B-24.003.

06

Tools and published inboxes

National and Florida groups already publishing ALPR work. Use their toolkits. Do not send them home addresses of private people. The emails below are published organizational addresses only.