Florida's own wildlife agency used government surveillance cameras to secretly track citizens who criticized its policies.
The governor who funded those same cameras for immigration enforcement just found out – and shut them down.
Ron DeSantis ordered state agencies to tear them down – and what he said about COVID lockdowns should scare every conservative in America.
The Wildlife Agency That Turned Its Cameras on Ordinary Floridians
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission didn't just use Flock cameras to catch poachers.
State agents pulled the driving records of more than a dozen critics – specifically targeting activists who opposed the agency's bear hunt.
One target was Katrina Shadix, founder of Bear Warriors United.
Her organization had successfully sued Florida for violating the Endangered Species Act.
State agents used Flock's license plate network to map her driving records and travel patterns.
This is not a liberal fever dream.
https://twitter.com/theblaze/status/2093051764744327557?s=20
The Orlando Sentinel and Miami Herald both confirmed it.
The Florida Highway Patrol was running a separate operation – using the same cameras as an immigration dragnet.
And Flock's abuse problem isn't unique to Florida: a Milwaukee detective used the system to track his romantic partner 124 times and her ex 55 times – and the detective assigned to investigate him was then arrested for doing the same thing.
The system designed to catch criminals was being used to hunt down people who disagreed with the government.
DeSantis Just Said Something Every Conservative Needs to Hear
Ron DeSantis told Eric Bolling what he's doing about it.
"Our agencies that had a few of them are bringing them down. We're going to clear the state right-of-ways," the governor said Friday.
That covers the wildlife agency and the highway patrol – the two agencies caught abusing the technology.
But DeSantis didn't stop there.
He caught his own government doing this – and then made a constitutional argument that should resonate with every American who lived through COVID.
"I just think back to COVID, and I said, if we had these cameras in March of 2020, would those have been abused? And my answer is, I think, almost assuredly, they would have been abused," he said. "If they had had all these cameras during COVID, New York, California, Biden, they would have tried to use them to enforce lockdowns. They would have used them to enforce vax mandates, and vax passports."
The government that tracked you to a church service in April 2020 would have had your entire driving history.
DeSantis also named Flock's actual business model.
"They can make some money producing cameras. The real money they make is by selling your data and making a fortune off that," he said.
Flock Safety runs a network of 120,000 cameras across America – and where you drive, when, and in what vehicle is the product they're monetizing.
Why This Matters Beyond Florida
DeSantis is in his final year as governor, and 98% of Florida's 7,500 Flock cameras are locally owned – beyond his reach.
So he did the one thing he could: ordered state agencies to pull theirs and called on Floridians to pressure their legislators.
Here's what those legislators already had in front of them.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2093720708517949624?s=20
The Florida Senate passed an AI privacy bill that would have put guardrails on exactly this.
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez never brought it to a floor vote.
The wildlife agents who tracked political opponents will face no legislative consequence.
The data Flock is selling on every Florida driver will keep flowing.
DeSantis caught the abuse, ordered what he could, and handed the rest to voters.
What they do with that is up to them.
Sources:
- A.G. Gancarski, "Ron DeSantis vows to clear Flock cameras from state right-of-ways," Florida Politics, August 29, 2026.
- Staff, "Ron DeSantis Says Flock Cameras Are 'Quickly' Popping Up," Breitbart, August 27, 2026.
- Staff, "Florida wildlife agency targeted its critics for secret surveillance," Florida Phoenix, July 23, 2026.
- Staff, "Inside the growing police use and misuse of Flock's license-plate reader cameras," CNN, July 26, 2026.
- Staff, "DeSantis Breaks With the GOP on Flock Cameras," Latin Times, August 29, 2026.
