Florida DOT Revokes Local ALPR Camera Permits Statewide

Florida DOT Revokes Local ALPR Camera Permits Statewide

The Florida Department of Transportation has revoked every general-use permit that let local police place automated license plate reader cameras in the right-of-way of state highways, and has stopped issuing new ones. Permit holders have until September 30, 2026 to remove their devices.

Information last verified on September 8, 2026.

Status: Engineering and Operations Memorandum No. 26-01 is issued and in effect as of August 31, 2026. All general-use LPR permits held by local law enforcement agencies for placement within State Highway System rights-of-way are revoked. The removal deadline runs to September 30, 2026, 30 days from the memorandum's date.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses a Florida Department of Transportation order affecting automated license plate reader cameras that local law enforcement agencies placed, under FDOT general-use permits, within the right-of-way of roads on the State Highway System. It does not address ALPR cameras on city streets or county roads outside that right-of-way, cameras on private property, or cameras operated by agencies that did not need an FDOT permit. For the state's broader camera rules, see Florida's surveillance camera statutes.

What Happened

On August 31, 2026, FDOT Chief Operating Officer and Assistant Secretary Will Watts, P.E., signed Engineering and Operations Memorandum No. 26-01, addressed to "Local Agency Permitholders." The memo's subject line is "Revocation of General Use Permits for Automated License Plate Readers." It states that FDOT permit approvals for placing assets in state rights-of-way "are considered temporary in nature" and that "all LPR-related LPR related approvals issued by the Department to a local law enforcement agency are hereby revoked and must be removed by the permittee within 30 days of the date of this memorandum." (The repeated "LPR-related LPR related" phrasing appears in the original document.) FDOT says it will remove any devices still in place after the 30-day window. The memo separately announces that FDOT will stop issuing any new ALPR placement approvals within its jurisdiction as of the same date. It cites Fla. Stat. s. 316.0777 as its authority and gives its rationale as "the recent exponential increase in deployments along our roadways, coupled with concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes."

What the Law Actually Says

The memorandum does not create a new removal power. Fla. Stat. s. 316.0777, titled "Automated license plate recognition systems; installation within rights-of-way of State Highway System; public records exemption," already gives FDOT that authority case by case. Subsection (2)(b) provides that "at the discretion of the Department of Transportation, an automated license plate recognition system may be installed within the right-of-way... of a road on the State Highway System when installed at the request of a law enforcement agency for the purpose of collecting active criminal intelligence information or active criminal investigative information," and that such a system "must be removed within 30 days after the Department of Transportation notifies the requesting law enforcement agency that such removal must occur." Memorandum 26-01 functions as that statutory notice, issued to every current permit holder at once rather than agency by agency. The same subsection independently bars any FDOT-permitted ALPR system from being used "to issue a notice of violation for a traffic infraction or a uniform traffic citation."

Subsection (1)(c) defines an "automated license plate recognition system" as "a system of one or more mobile or fixed high-speed cameras combined with computer algorithms to convert images of license plates into computer-readable data." Subsection (2)(c) puts installation and removal costs solely on the requesting law enforcement agency and shields FDOT from liability for how that agency operates the system. Subsection (2)(d) caps how long the resulting images and data can be retained, tying retention to the schedule set under s. 316.0778.

The statute also carries a public-records dimension worth knowing about separately from this revocation. Subsection (3) makes images and data containing personal identifying information, when generated through an ALPR system and held by an agency, confidential and exempt from Fla. Stat. s. 119.07(1), the inspection and copying provision of Florida's public records law, and from Article I, section 24(a) of the Florida Constitution. That information may still be disclosed by or to a criminal justice agency in the performance of its official duties, and it may be disclosed to an individual about their own license plate unless it is active criminal intelligence or active criminal investigative information. For the state's public-records framework more broadly, see how Florida's Chapter 119 public records law works.

Automated license plate readers are a distinct legal category from Florida's audio recording rules; the state's two-party consent requirement for recording conversations governs oral communications, not license plate imaging. For a broader look at how ALPR programs are regulated across the country, see this overview of automated license plate reader laws by state.

What This Order Does Not Cover

The revocation is narrow, and its boundaries matter. It reaches only ALPR devices that a local law enforcement agency placed under an FDOT general-use permit within the right-of-way of a road that is part of the State Highway System.

It does not reach ALPR cameras on city streets or county roads that fall outside FDOT's right-of-way, since those installations were never subject to an FDOT permit in the first place. It does not reach cameras on private property, including those at shopping centers, homeowners' associations, or apartment complexes, which operate under separate arrangements with the property owner rather than a state right-of-way permit. And it does not reach any agency or camera system that never required an FDOT permit to begin with, regardless of where it sits.

Florida has not banned automated license plate readers. Local governments retain whatever authority they otherwise have to deploy the technology on roads and property outside FDOT's jurisdiction, subject to their own policies and to any other applicable state or local law.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

What makes this action notable is not a new statute; it is FDOT using an existing one at scale. Section 316.0777 was created in 2014 as a public-records exemption alone; the placement and removal authority in subsection (2) was added nine years later by chapter 2023-70, Laws of Florida, section 5, approved May 11, 2023 and effective July 1, 2023. Since then, subsection (2)(b) has given the department both the discretion to approve individual ALPR placements and the authority to demand their removal on 30 days' notice. Memorandum 26-01 applies that authority to every outstanding general-use permit in one action, rather than agency by agency, and pairs it with a decision to stop approving new placements going forward. The memorandum's stated rationale, citing "misuse," "data privacy concerns," and "surveillance schemes," frames the action as a policy response to how the permitted network of cameras had grown, not as a finding of a specific legal violation by any one agency. The permitting regime and the removal power arrived together in the 2023 act, so the network FDOT is now unwinding was built entirely under the same statute it is now invoking to dismantle it.

The mechanism is also worth noting on its own terms: FDOT's authority under s. 316.0777 reaches placement in a specific physical location, the right-of-way of the State Highway System, rather than the technology itself. That is why the order can revoke a large number of permits at once while leaving ALPR deployment elsewhere in Florida untouched. Some commentary elsewhere has pointed to a reported, separate directive in Texas concerning state funding for license plate reader cameras from vendor Flock Safety in late August 2026; that development rests on spokesperson statements relayed by news outlets rather than a primary document this article has verified, and it is a distinct action under different state law.

How This Affects You

If a local law enforcement agency's ALPR camera sat on a road within FDOT's State Highway System right-of-way under a general-use permit, that permit is now revoked and the device is subject to the removal timeline set out in Memorandum 26-01. Agencies operating cameras outside that specific footprint, on local roads, county roads, or private property, are not affected by this memorandum and should look to whatever permits, ordinances, or agreements actually govern those installations. Readers who want to know whether a particular camera falls inside or outside FDOT's right-of-way, or who are dealing with a records request involving ALPR data, may want to review Florida's public records exemptions for license plate data and the state's broader surveillance camera rules alongside the primary sources cited above.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. It covers Florida state law and an August 31, 2026 Florida Department of Transportation memorandum, reflecting sources verified on September 8, 2026. Laws and agency actions can change, and this story is developing; consult a lawyer licensed in Florida about your specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-09-08. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-09-08.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the Florida Department of Transportation actually do?

On August 31, 2026, FDOT issued Engineering and Operations Memorandum No. 26-01, revoking every general-use permit it had issued to local law enforcement agencies for placing automated license plate reader cameras in the right-of-way of roads on the State Highway System, and announcing it will stop issuing new such permits.

Does this mean Florida banned license plate readers?

No. The order only revokes FDOT permits for ALPR placement within State Highway System rights-of-way. Cameras on city streets, county roads outside that right-of-way, and private property are not covered by this memorandum.

When do agencies have to remove their cameras?

The memorandum sets a 30-day removal deadline from its August 31, 2026 date, which runs to September 30, 2026. FDOT states it will remove any devices still in place after that date.

What law gives FDOT the authority to do this?

Fla. Stat. s. 316.0777(2)(b) gives FDOT discretion to approve ALPR placement requests from law enforcement agencies within State Highway System rights-of-way and authority to require removal within 30 days after FDOT notifies the agency. The memorandum exercises that existing statutory removal authority sitewide rather than case by case.

Can FDOT-permitted license plate readers be used to issue traffic tickets?

No. The second sentence of Fla. Stat. s. 316.0777(2)(b) states that an 'automated license plate recognition system may not be used to issue a notice of violation for a traffic infraction or a uniform traffic citation.' The sentence sits within subsection (2), which governs systems installed in State Highway System rights-of-way at a law enforcement agency's request.

Is license plate reader data covered by Florida's public records law?

Fla. Stat. s. 316.0777(3) makes images and data containing personal identifying information from an ALPR system confidential and exempt from Fla. Stat. s. 119.07(1), the inspection and copying provision of Florida's public records law, and from Article I, section 24(a) of the Florida Constitution, though the information can still be shared among criminal justice agencies and, in most cases, with the person whose plate was recorded.

Can FDOT remove a camera faster than the 30-day deadline?

Yes. The memorandum states that nothing in it prevents FDOT from immediately removing an individual LPR device that is an immediate safety concern or is causing an unsafe condition.

Who pays to remove the revoked cameras?

Fla. Stat. s. 316.0777(2)(c) puts installation and removal costs on the law enforcement agency that requested the placement, and states that FDOT is not liable for damages arising from that agency's operation of the system.