Why License Plate Readers Went Dark in Daytona Beach and Volusia County

BY LOCATION · DAYTONA BEACH & VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA

For years, license plate readers were part of everyday police work across Volusia County. They helped officers follow leads, identify stolen cars and look for people who were missing. Then, in the space of a few weeks in 2026, the picture changed.

The Volusia Sheriff’s Office shut down its plate-reader program. Daytona Beach stopped using its readers. And county leaders voted to remove law enforcement readers from county road property for at least a year.

So what happened? Why would local agencies stop using equipment their own police leaders say was helping them solve crimes? And does the decision mean every license plate camera in Volusia County is gone?

The answers are more interesting than a simple yes or no.

It started with a state decision on August 31

On August 31, 2026, the Florida Department of Transportation, or FDOT, issued a memorandum revoking permits that allowed local law enforcement agencies to place automated license plate readers along state highway rights of way. That’s the roadside space controlled by the state, not every street or piece of private property in Florida.

The FDOT memorandum, labeled EOM26-01, required agencies to remove affected devices within 30 days and said the department would no longer approve new placement requests in those areas.

Why? State transportation officials pointed to the rapid expansion of the cameras and concerns about data privacy, misuse and broad surveillance. The decision dealt with where the devices were permitted on state roads. It was not a new law declaring every license plate reader in Florida illegal.

That distinction matters, because local governments still had to decide what to do with their own systems and their own roads.

Volusia’s sheriff turned off his system

That same afternoon, Sheriff Mike Chitwood announced the Volusia Sheriff’s Office would shut down its license plate readers immediately.

He wasn’t celebrating the decision. Chitwood said the technology had helped deputies find missing people, recover stolen property and investigate violent crimes. He also acknowledged that some concerns about privacy, technology and data sharing were legitimate.

His position was that Florida needed clearer rules allowing police to keep the benefits while protecting the public. Without that guidance, he said his agency couldn’t continue using the system.

This was a decision about the sheriff’s program. It doesn’t prove that every privately owned camera, parking reader or system operated by another agency in the county was turned off.

Daytona Beach stopped, and Volusia County hit pause

After the state’s order, Daytona Beach police stopped using their readers. Chief Jakari Young said the cameras had helped find stolen cars and people in danger. Ormond Beach and other nearby departments made changes, too.

On October 6, the Volusia County Council went a step further, approving a 12-month pause on police readers placed on county roadside property. No new permits would be issued, and existing permit holders were told to remove affected cameras within 30 days of notice.

Local reporting counted 79 permitted readers along county roads. But this wasn’t a countywide ban. The separate ParkVolusia plate-reader program was excluded.

Why did the sheriff value the technology so much?

There’s a specific local case that helps explain his position.

In August 2024, two people were shot in their Deltona home during the early morning hours. The suspect left the area, and detectives faced the challenge of identifying and locating him.

According to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office’s account of the investigation, detectives collected security video showing a car with a license plate that had been stolen from another vehicle. Analysts then searched plate-reader information for cars matching the description. That helped them identify a vehicle with a Georgia plate and reconstruct some of its movements through Volusia County.

Investigators also used footage from nearby businesses and other digital evidence. Police in Southfield, Michigan, eventually arrested the suspect, who was charged with attempted murder and armed burglary. Both shooting victims survived.

Notice what made the case work. The plate-reader information was useful, but it wasn’t the only evidence. Detectives checked what they found against video, vehicle details and other records.

It’s a concrete example of why Chitwood and other police leaders want access to the technology. We explore similar successes from other communities in When License Plate Readers Help.

And why did other people want the cameras stopped?

For some residents, the central concern is what happens to information about people who haven’t been accused of anything. A plate reader can record an ordinary trip to work, a store or a relative’s house. When enough cameras share information, the records may reveal patterns of travel.

Others worry about human mistakes. A camera’s accurate observation can still lead investigators toward the wrong person if they draw conclusions too quickly or fail to check conflicting evidence.

A painful example came from the Interstate 4 crash investigation in Volusia County. Lindsey Isaacs of Palm Coast was arrested in 2026 after her SUV appeared in license plate camera records connected to an investigation of a crash that had killed three people the previous October.

Isaacs spent 13 days in jail before the case against her was dropped. An investigation by Atlanta News First and InvestigateTV examined the plate images, vehicle descriptions and evidence that ultimately did not support the accusation. Another driver was later accused in the deadly crash.

This case doesn’t establish that the camera misread a plate. It illustrates something just as important: information from a camera still has to be interpreted correctly by people.

That is one reason critics seek stronger rules for searches, oversight and sharing. We examine those issues further in When License Plate Readers Are Misused and When License Plate Readers Get It Wrong.

Does the moratorium mean every camera is gone?

No, and that’s worth emphasizing. We can document decisions to shut down certain agency systems and require law enforcement readers to be removed from particular roadside locations. That isn’t the same as independently verifying that every piece of equipment has been physically removed.

At the time of the October council vote, WFTV reported that some equipment was still standing even though the sheriff’s network had been turned off. The county removal process also depended on sending notices and allowing time for cameras to come down.

A parked or disconnected camera may still be visible. A privately owned reader may be governed by different rules. And a reader used for a park or parking operation may have a different purpose and legal framework.

If you see a camera in Volusia County today, its appearance alone doesn’t tell you whether it is active, who owns it or which rules apply. Those are questions worth checking with the responsible agency.

What happens to the records already collected?

This is one of the most useful questions residents can ask next.

Turning off a camera doesn’t automatically tell us what happened to past plate readings, copies shared with another agency or records preserved for an investigation. Nor does the decision to cancel a contract tell us exactly when equipment will be removed or what fees might remain.

For this article we reviewed public statements, the state memorandum, local reporting and the county’s announcement. We have not independently confirmed the final removal of every camera, obtained the full vendor contract or audited deletion of stored data.

The public record leaves reasonable follow-up questions:

• Have all affected roadside cameras been removed, and who paid for that work?
• Which agencies still have access to any shared ALPR records or systems?
• What happened to previously collected plate data, and how are retention rules enforced?
• If the program returns, what independent checks will exist for improper searches and mistaken alerts?

Those are practical questions whether you support the technology, oppose it or simply want to understand how the decisions affect your community.

So what happens next?

Volusia’s 12-month moratorium is meant to give local leaders time to watch what happens at the state level. Sheriff Chitwood has argued for guardrails that would allow plate readers to be used again. Others want stronger privacy protections before systems return, and some may prefer not to bring them back.

For residents, this doesn’t have to be a contest between wanting police to find a missing child and wanting ordinary people to move around without being tracked unnecessarily.

A useful public discussion can ask two things at once: What have the cameras genuinely helped police accomplish, and what protections are needed to keep the information from being misused?

That’s the question Volusia County is now trying to answer. And because the debate involves real roads, real investigations and actual public decisions, it’s a useful example for communities across the country.

Want to investigate the program where you live? Our guide, Are There License Plate Readers in Your Town? Here’s How to Find Out, offers a simple starting point.

Sources and further reading

This article is based on public documents, official statements and reported local cases, not on interviews conducted by ALPRNews. The situation may change as the moratorium proceeds.

• Florida Department of Transportation, Memorandum EOM26-01 (August 31, 2026). Official bulletin page linking to the order affecting state highway rights of way.
• Volusia County, October 8, 2026 announcement. County-road moratorium, removal instructions and review period.
• Volusia Sheriff’s Office, August 31, 2026 statement. Sheriff Chitwood’s explanation for shutting down the agency’s plate-reader program.
• Volusia Sheriff’s Office, Deltona shooting investigation (August 2024). A documented local use of plate readers together with other evidence.
• Ormond Beach Observer, September 1 and October 6, 2026; county moratorium coverage. Local agency responses, the 79-permit figure and the ParkVolusia exception.
• WFTV, October 6, 2026. Sheriff’s account of the network’s status and approximate camera access.
• InvestigateTV / Atlanta News First, September 14, 2026. Reporting on the Lindsey Isaacs mistaken-arrest case.

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Research reviewed November 3, 2026. General information, not legal advice.