What happened with the Fort Myers Beach cameras?
Beach Observer reported that the Fort Myers Beach Town Council voted in September to end its contract with Flock Safety for license plate reader cameras. The cameras are still up, but they have been deactivated.
Town Public Information Officer Abigail Eberhart said the town is waiting on Flock Safety to take them down. In an email on Oct. 2, she said, "Flock will be removing them." As of Tuesday, they had not been removed, and the town has no timeline.
The contract the council is ending:
- Approved in 2023 for five years
- $15,000 a year
- Two cameras at Big Carlos Pass Bridge, two at Matanzas Pass Bridge, and one near Times Square
Why did the council vote to end it?
Town Manager Will McKannay recommended ending the contract. He said the town pays for installation but has no role in operating or monitoring the cameras, and he was uneasy about that setup.
McKannay also said the town had no agreement in place to protect itself from liability if someone misused the data. He said he wasn't opposed to plate readers in principle and could return to the council with a better agreement.
What changes for drivers?
The council's vote covers the town's own contract cameras, the ones on the two bridges and near Times Square. The Lee County Sheriff's Office had access to the Fort Myers Beach readers through a separate data-sharing contract with Flock, but it does not own those cameras. Sheriff's officials told Beach Observer they had nothing to do with the town's removal decision.
What does not change: the Lee County Sheriff's Office still uses data from its plate readers on county roads. Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered plate readers removed from state roads and rights-of-way, but not the toll booths the state uses to bill motorists. The sheriff's office took down the readers on those state roads.
What's still unknown?
Flock has not said when the cameras will come down. A person identified only as Ashley wrote that "For privacy and security purposes, our team can't disclose this information on behalf of our customers."
Neither Eberhart nor McKannay has said exactly where on the bridges or near Times Square the cameras are mounted. Neither responded to further questions as of Friday.
For background on how these systems work, see how plate readers work, and check the camera map for other readers in the area. The next thing to watch is whether Flock removes the Fort Myers Beach cameras, and the town has not set a date for that.