Public document reference
On August 31, 2026, the Florida Department of Transportation revoked every permit allowing automated license plate readers in state right-of-way and gave agencies 30 days to take them down. Local officials have objected, agencies are reviewing their own programs, and statewide regulation is expected to be taken up by the Legislature.
This page collects the primary documents, so anyone following it can read them rather than read about them.
Each is reproduced in full or linked to the body that issued it. Nothing is excerpted to make a point.
Revokes all General Use Permits for license plate reader systems in the right-of-way of the State Highway System, directs removal by the permittee within 30 days, and discontinues issuance of future placement requests. Issued by Will Watts, P.E., Chief Operating Officer.
Addressed to Governor DeSantis and Secretary Perdue. Requests a pause on the removal deadline, a petition process for continued permitted use under enhanced oversight and audit, municipal input as the Legislature considers statewide regulation, and published criteria distinguishing responsible programs from the misuse cited. Signed by the mayors of Miami Beach, Bay Harbor Islands, Bal Harbour Village, Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Golden Beach and Indian Creek Village.
Florida's uniform statewide guidelines, revised and approved by the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Information Systems Council under s. 943.08, Florida Statutes. They establish that readers and their data are for criminal justice purposes only, that deployment and access are authorized by the agency's chief executive, that users are trained, that an alert is verified before enforcement action, and that agencies keep deployment and access records, audit annually, and evaluate performance. An agency measuring its own program against a written standard should start here.
States support for the technology where it serves a legitimate public safety purpose, conditioned on eight safeguards covering documented lawful purpose, restricted and trained access, written policy, verification of alerts before enforcement action, auditing, response to misuse, data security and retention, and written agreements governing any sharing. The statement also announces an IACP working group and a resource page for agencies.
Two Florida statutes bear on this directly. Section 316.0777 addresses department authority over placement in state right-of-way and the confidentiality of plate reader data. Section 316.0778 is cited in the CJJIS guidelines as governing retention, and the applicable schedule is General Records Schedule GS2 for law enforcement. Agencies should read the statutes and the schedule with counsel rather than relying on any summary, including this one.
Drawn entirely from the two documents above. Every question below is something the CJJIS guidelines or the IACP statement expects an agency to have settled. It is a starting point for a program review, not legal advice and not a certification of compliance.
An agency that can answer these in writing is in a materially different position from one that cannot, whatever happens with placement in state right-of-way. Both source documents are linked above.
Florida cases in which plate reader evidence is documented as contributing to a location, an arrest, a rescue, or a conviction. Entries are drawn from news coverage and agency statements, not from any vendor's data. Cases involving several different reader systems appear here.
After three people were killed in Tamarac, a nearby reader detected the suspect vehicle. Deputies located him at a North Lauderdale store within hours of the Amber Alert and recovered his four-year-old daughter, who detectives said witnessed all three killings.
Readers in Orange County identified the suspect truck, and deputies issued a lookout to surrounding agencies. Troopers stopped the truck on State Road 570 in Polk County and found the victim in the back seat. Kidnapping and aggravated domestic assault charges followed.
A reader detection as the suspect fled south from Ocala, combined with a citizen's 911 call, led deputies to the vehicle. The 13-year-old was recovered safely within hours. Deputies stopped the vehicle on U.S. 441 and shot and killed the suspect after he pointed a handgun at them.
An Indian River County reader identified the U-Haul connected to a fatal shooting. Deputies surrounded the vehicle, made the arrest and recovered a firearm.
Source not yet verified
Historical images placed the suspect pickup traveling toward and away from the victim's home, and across a causeway at the point the victim's phone disappeared. The phone was recovered. Conviction for first degree murder, life sentence.
Source not yet verified
A fixed reader recorded the suspect vehicle at a time and place that contradicted his account. An FDLE case study describes the read as important to building the homicide case. Conviction and life sentence.
Source not yet verified
Detectives searched reads for a dark sedan carrying a stolen Florida plate, then identified the same vehicle under a Georgia plate. Historical reads reconstructed trips from Georgia to Deltona.
Source not yet verified
Historical reads placed the suspect vehicle near the store where the victim was last seen and near the location where her body was found. The vehicle later yielded physical evidence.
Source not yet verified
Entries are added when a documented outcome is reported. Corrections to any entry are welcome and will be made.