The Levy County Sheriff’s Office has received the executive order from Governor DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation to remove all LPR equipment from State roads, and will adhere to the order. The Levy County Sheriff’s Office wants to make it clear to our public that we were not using Flock cameras. We were using LPR technology offered from another vendor whom we vetted before entering into any contract to ensure the data it obtained was safely stored.
This said the LCSO endeavors to serve our community in the most transparent fashion and share some of the success stories from the recent past using this technology. Had it not been for this LPR technology we would not have captured a suspect wanted for murder in Levy County, nor would we be able to share finding multiple people who were reported missing and endangered. We used LPR technology to identify a shooting suspect fleeing the scene of the crime within four minutes of the offense. We identified more than half a dozen drivers who were passing our school buses with their stop signaling devices activated while our children were boarding. We solved an Internet Crimes Against Children sexual abuse material transmission case and several sexual battery cases with LPR. A burglary reported by the Inglis City Hall during which a computer containing sensitive information related to Town business was solved using LPR, just to name a few.
The LCSO has never been under scrutiny for misuse of this technology or found any employee abusing their privileges or violating our agency policies. When used properly this technology safeguards our public from those we have sworn an oath to defend. The cameras deployed in our county will be removed in compliance with the Governors and FDOT’s order.