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Contentious Debate Before County Joins State Reader Camera Ban

    At a raucous meeting of the Lake County Commission on Tuesday, September 1,  commissioners eventually held a vote to remove license plate reading cameras from county right of ways. While the vote was unanimous, the two hours of debate that preceded the vote was aggressive, disruptive, and even personal at times as commissioners voiced criticisms of the public and at times each other.
    The discussion came on the heels of a move by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier in the week that will require tag-reading cameras be removed from operation along all state roads within the next 30 days.  DeSantis claimed the rising fear of a ‘surveillance state’ as the reason for the move, a sentiment that was echoed on Tuesday morning during the commission meeting by over a dozen public speakers.
    On Tuesday, the matter came before the commission due to an agenda request from commissioner Anthony Sabatini.  The subject drew a large crowd, with over a dozen speakers asking the county move to remove the cameras that are feared by some to gather and store much more data than simply search for license plates put into the system by law enforcement.
    Discussion was immediately contentious, as commission chair Leslie Campione worked to maintain a level of decorum in a full chamber.  Ongoing shouting from the audience at times led Campione to threaten to clear the chamber, but in the end the public was able to speak, unanimously voicing opposition to the continued use of tag reading cameras.
    The debate failed to include input from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, as neither Sheriff Peyton Grinnell or any of his staff attended.  The cameras were placed in the county roughly four years ago at the sheriff’s request, after commissioners at the time placed what they thought would be appropriate safeguards.
    A desire to hear from the sheriff put Campione at odds with many in the audience and Sabatini.  Campione cited the need to balance potential good uses of the cameras for things like Amber and Silver alert searches, as well as active investigations.  Sabatini said he was willing to have further discussions with the sheriff’s office in the future, but motioned for the cameras to be removed immediately or as soon as county agreements allow.  That timeline could be around 30 days according to staff at the meeting.
    In a room full of people who generally agreed on the subject of removing the cameras, the public’s aggressive stance and commissioner infighting created an extremely tense environment.  At one point, Campione called Sabatini ‘ridiculous’ in his actions, and him responding to a comment from that it was ‘absurd’ for it to be implied that opposition to the license reading cameras was anti-law enforcement.
    While voicing support for pulling the cameras from county roads, Sabatini pointed out that an estimated 15 sheriff’s offices around the state have moved to discontinue their use of plate reading cameras almost immediately after DeSantis announced the new rule, and that more were expected to follow.
    Commissioner Kirby Smith, who ultimately seconded Sabatini’s motion, stated that while he had voted to approve the cameras several years ago, the increased technology that could lead to abuse left him feeling they need to go.
    “I’m becoming more and more uncomfortable,” he said, pointing to recent reports of abuse within the license plate reading system. “I think we need to go ahead and get rid of the license plate readers.”
    Commissioners also agreed to invite Grinnell to a future meeting to discus cameras and technology in general, with commissioner Sean Parks noting that license plate reading cameras are currently in use in law enforcement vehicles.