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Engineering and Operations Memorandum No. 26-01

Revocation of General Use Permits for Automated License Plate Readers

RevokedAugust 31, 2026To: Local Agency Permitholders
SupportedEvidence
FDOT issued Engineering and Operations Memorandum 26-01 on 31 August 2026, revoking General Use Permits for automated license plate readers on State Highway System right-of-way.

Supported by the official FDOT bulletins index listing EOM26-01 with matching title and date, and by the letter on FDOT letterhead transcribed here. The hosted PDF file on fdot.gov was not independently downloaded at briefing time.

eom-26-01

Scan of FDOT Engineering and Operations Memorandum 26-01 on agency letterhead, dated August 31, 2026, signed by Will Watts, P.E.
Document image as presented. Letterhead: Florida Department of Transportation, 605 Suwannee Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450. Ron DeSantis, Governor. Jared W. Perdue, P.E., Secretary.

Florida Department of Transportation

605 Suwannee Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450

Engineering and Operations Memorandum No. 26-01

Date
August 31, 2026
To
Local Agency Permitholders
From
Will Watts, P.E., Chief Operating Officer, Assistant Secretary
Copies
State Agency Officials; Rudy Powell, P.E., Chief Engineer of Operations
Subject
Revocation of General Use Permits for Automated License Plate Readers

The purpose of this memorandum is to notify local law enforcement agencies of updates related to the Florida Department of Transportation’s (Department) authority regarding the placement or use of automated license plate recognition systems (LPR) within the right of way of a road on the State Highway System by local agencies.

Automated License Plate Recognition Systems (LPR)

Pursuant to s. 316.0777, Florida Statutes, FDOT is provided with broad authority to approve or deny a local law enforcement agency’s request to place a LPR within the right-of-way of a road on the State Highway System—and the authority to remove such at the Department’s discretion.

While Florida law limits the issuance of permits for LPR systems to law enforcement agencies, the recent exponential increase in deployments along our roadways, coupled with concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns, and surveillance schemes merit immediate action to preserve Floridians’ sovereignty and quality of life.

Active Permits

Approvals for the placement of assets in state rights-of-way by the Department are considered temporary in nature. As such, 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. If such removal has not occurred within the 30-day period, the Department will remove any remaining devices subject to this memorandum.

To that end, nothing in this memorandum prevents or restricts the Department from immediately removing any individual LPR device that is an immediate safety concern or that is causing an unsafe condition.

Discontinuance of All Future LPR Placement Requests

Further, as of the date of this memorandum, the Department will use its discretionary authority to cease the issuance of all future requests for LPR systems within its jurisdictional authority.

Transcription is faithful to the letter, including the duplicated phrase “all LPR-related LPR related approvals.” Official listing: fdot.gov/design/bulletins.

The 30-day removal duty is the same clock already written into § 316.0777(2)(b): a system “must be removed within 30 days after the Department of Transportation notifies the requesting law enforcement agency that such removal must occur.” This memorandum is that notice.