They’re mounted on poles along roadways across St. Lucie County and thousands of other communities nationwide: camera systems made by the company Flock Safety that photograph passing license plates, log the time and location, and check the plate against law enforcement watch lists.
Supporters say the cameras are a straightforward crime-fighting tool. Critics say they amount to a mass surveillance network — and the debate is playing out in Florida as much as anywhere else.
Flock’s cameras now number around 120,000 across 49 states, and the data they collect is shared among thousands of law enforcement agencies, according to St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro…