Police Captain claims Bartow owns none of the 13 Flock cameras within city limits
There are 13 known Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in Bartow. This is according to research conducted by Bartow Police Captain Luke Hauser, who informed city commissioners at the Sept. 3 agenda meeting. The research came about after City Manager Mike Herr requested it from Hauser.
“I did want our commissioners to know so we did not get inundated with social media inquiries; my goal is to be proactive in communicating about an issue the public is interested in,” stated Herr in an email to The Citrus Tea News. “I decided to address it early Thursday a.m.”
Hauser’s presentation was not on the agenda.
Originally supposed to be part of the Herr’s section of “Reports of Charter Officers,” it was instead delivered earlier in the meeting for a particular reason.
“Capt. Hauser had to leave early, so we wanted to accommodate his request,” Herr stated.
Locations
When asked where he got the information, Hauser said he found it through an open internet search. One of those sites, deflocktheusa.com, provides the camera locations on a map, as well as listing the sites and the number of ALPRs at each site.
Reporter's note: the following were located by driving around, following the locations indicated on a map on deflocktheusa.com
- Van Fleet Drive: four readers in the Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot
- Van Fleet Drive: one reader (in a section of the parking lot across from Chick-fil-A)
- Ernest Smith Boulevard: two readers (facing U.S. 17)
- Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road: one reader (facing toward Bartow)
- State Road 60: two readers (at the intersection of State Road 60 and the entrance to Walmart)
- Spessard Holland Parkway: one reader (near the junction of southbound U.S. 17 )
- North Wilson Avenue: one reader (on the grounds and near the entrance at Lowe’s Home Improvement)
- American Way: one reader (by the entrance to A-C-T)
- No ALPR was located at one site listed, at Lyle Parkway, directly off U.S. 98
On her Facebook page, Commissioner Trish Pfeiffer weighed in, explaining the difference between ALPRs and red light cameras; the latter, she wrote, are single-purpose traffic enforcement tools used to issue tickets for running red lights.
“Now, as for Bartow, we do not have any Flock cameras.”
Bartow City Commissioner Trish Pfeiffer
Shortly after, Pfeiffer clarified.
Flock cameras, she explained, are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) built by Flock Safety that continuously photograph the rear of passing vehicles, logging license plates, vehicle make, model, color, and unique features like bumper stickers. They do not issue traffic tickets.
“Police can search this data during a criminal investigation using vehicle descriptions,” she wrote.
“The City of Bartow, meaning the Commission or city government, has not approved any FC. Just the Red Light cameras.”
Of the ALPRs in Bartow, 11 are identified on the map as Flock Safety cameras, while two are identified as Motorola Solutions.
Reporter's note: referring to ALPRs as Flock/FLOCK cameras is erroneous, as Flock Safety/FLOCK is not a generic term. It is a trademark brand name, akin to Band-Aid (bandages), Jell-O (gelatin), REALTOR, NASCAR, etc.
Removal Ordered
However, in a Sept. 3 Citrus Tea News article by Becky McLachlan, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) issued a memorandum on Aug. 31, revoking all existing permits for automated license plate readers in state highway rights-of-way, and agencies were given 30 days to take down the equipment. If not, then FDOT stated it would remove the cameras.
FDOT also stated it would not approve new installations.
If interpreted correctly, that means the cameras on Van Fleet Drive, State Road 60, and Spessard Holland Parkway are scheduled for removal.
The order only covers the State Highway System, the roads FDOT maintains. In Polk County, that includes Interstate 4 and the U.S. routes 17, 27, 92, and 98, along with numbered state roads such as 33, 37, 60, 540, 544, and 559.
Cameras on city and county roads can remain, and privately operated cameras on commercial property are untouched by the new memorandum.
One of the ALPRs on private property is at American Way, the entrance to A-C-T Environmental and Infrastructure. That camera faces into the property and not onto State Road 60.
However, per Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd (also cited in the Sept. 3 article) the department will be “… pulling license plate readers off state highways under a new Florida Department of Transportation order, but he is keeping every camera his agency operates elsewhere.”
Those could mean the two cameras on Ernest Smith Boulevard facing U.S. 17 at the intersection of Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road, as well as the camera on the north side of Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road. It might also encompass the ALPR on North Wilson Avenue.
Scott Wilder, who is with the Public Information Office of the sheriff’s office, could and would not confirm which ALPR cameras within Bartow might remain.
Wilder also said he personally did not know of any in Bartow installed at the start of the PCSO, nor did he have any knowledge of who might have ordered the installation of ALPR cameras on the right-of-way of roads maintained by FDOT or other law enforcement agencies.
As for protocols for installing ALPRs, the sheriff’s office can request that a municipality install ALPRs, and a municipality can also make the request.
He added that private individuals and/or companies can request businesses that install ALPRs without contacting government agencies if the cameras are placed on private property. For example, the ALPRs located within the Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot are on private property.
Concerns and Controversies
Concerns about ALPRs (also known as LPRs) have grown across the nation, especially as reports have emerged about law enforcement officers (LEOs) who have misused the information these cameras have gathered.
One incident involved an officer with the Haines City Police Department. He was arrested and charged Aug. 11 for having searched his estranged wife’s license plate 717 times while both on- and off-duty.
Internet searches have documented other abuses by law enforcement, such as the use of racist terms. One cited case involved officials within a police department who typed the word “Romani” (euphemistically known as Gypsies) and other related terms. Since 2020, the U.S. government has officially recognized such terms as implying the criminalization of an ethnic group.
Protests such as the “No King” rallies have also been surveilled via the ALPRs.
In yet another example, in Texas, a woman who was reported as missing was actually being investigated for having traveled out of state to administer a self-administered abortion in a state where such a practice is legal. In that surveillance, the police department surveilled information from a reported nationwide 83,000 ALPRs, including states where abortions are legal. The woman, who was “reported” by someone she had been romantically involved with, was interviewed by LEOs and had her text messages reviewed.
Steve Steiner can be reached at: [email protected]
FAQ’s
How many Flock cameras/license plate readers are in Bartow?
There are 13 known automated license plate readers in Bartow, according to research Bartow Police Capt. Luke Hauser presented to city commissioners at the Sept. 3 agenda meeting. Eleven are identified as Flock Safety cameras and two as Motorola Solutions.
Does the City of Bartow own Flock cameras?
No. Bartow Police Capt. Luke Hauser told city commissioners at the Sept. 3 agenda meeting that the city does not own any of the readers.
Did the Bartow City Commission approve Flock cameras?
No. Commissioner Trish Pfeiffer said the commission and city government have not approved any Flock Safety contract, writing, “The City of Bartow, meaning the Commission or city government, has not approved any FC. Just the Red Light cameras.”
Where are the license plate readers in Bartow?
Readers were located on Van Fleet Drive, including four in the Lowe’s Home Improvement parking lot and one across from Chick-fil-A; Ernest Smith Boulevard, facing U.S. 17; Old Bartow Eagle Lake Road; State Road 60 at the Walmart entrance; Spessard Holland Parkway; North Wilson Avenue; and American Way. A site listed at Lyle Parkway had no reader when checked.
Which Bartow license plate readers are coming down?
The Florida Department of Transportation’s Aug. 31 memorandum revokes permits for automated license plate readers in state highway rights-of-way and gives agencies 30 days to remove them. Readers in Bartow were located along Van Fleet Drive, State Road 60 and Spessard Holland Parkway. Scott Wilder of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Office would not confirm which readers in Bartow will remain. Cameras on city and county roads and on private commercial property are not covered by the order.
What is the difference between a license plate reader and a red light camera?
A red light camera is a single-purpose traffic enforcement tool that issues tickets for running red lights. A license plate reader continuously photographs the rear of passing vehicles and logs the plate, make, model, color and identifying features such as bumper stickers, which police can search during a criminal investigation. Readers do not issue traffic tickets.
Sources: Florida Department of Transportation Memorandum EOM26-01, fdot.gov, August 31, 2026; Sheriff Grady Judd video statement, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, September 1, 2026; “Haines City Officer Used Flock Cameras to Track Estranged Wife , Sept. 3, 2026 The Citrus Tea. on 717 Occasions, Affidavit Says,” WFLA, wfla.com, August 12, 2026; Deflocktheusa.com/deflock.org/unflocked.org/flockcameralocations.com/unflocknow.com; Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), November 3, 2025, License Plate Surveillance Logs Reveal Racist Policing Against Romani People; November 20, 2025, How Cops Are Using Flock Safety’s ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists; 404 Media, May 29, 2025, A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion
