// ARS TECHNICA — MOBILE & WEB
Florida county won’t investigate sketchy Flock cameras removed by mystery owners
Florida county claims it lacks resources to find owners of unpermitted Flock cameras.
A Florida county that discovered a clump of mysterious unpermitted Flock cameras during a countywide takedown effort won’t investigate who owned the sketchy cameras, which have since disappeared.
On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that St. Lucie County residents “remain upset,” not knowing who installed the cameras or how they were using the data collected. Hannah Galindo, a 31-year-old resident who petitioned to get Flock cameras removed, told the Post that she was worried “that data could be anywhere.”
Of the 12 cameras found, five were eventually claimed by city law enforcement, the Post reported. Apparently, a police department mistakenly issued guidance claiming that officers could post multiple cameras under one permit, a Flock spokesperson told the Post, even though the county required individual permits. However, neither Flock nor the city police departments in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce that claimed the sketchy cameras will confirm who gave the guidance.
Over three years, the Port St. Lucie Police Department’s Flock contract ballooned from $22,000 to $470,000 in 2025, the year before the county mandated removals on county roads. However, Erick Gill, a St. Lucie County spokesperson, told the Post that despite ending that nearly half-million-dollar contract, the county lacks resources to investigate who owned the seven other unpermitted cameras found.
“It sounds like when you do something wrong, and you don’t want to get caught, and you kind of just want to sweep it under the rug,” Galindo told the Post.
According to Gill, the county’s goal was to remove the cameras, not to identify owners, which is why the county gave owners 30 days to take the cameras down without facing any questions.
“Our goal was to get the cameras out of the right-of-way within 30 days,” Gill said. “We accomplished that goal.”
Asked for comment, Gill did not address the cameras of unknown origin, only reiterating that the directive was to remove the cameras.
The Post reported that Flock “did not respond to emailed questions about who operated and removed the cameras or the apparent confusion over permitting requirements.” However, a Flock spokesperson told Ars that Flock knows who owned them and simply won’t disclose it to St. Lucie County residents.