The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to remove Flock automated license plate readers from county rights of way, as first reported by Action News Jax. The decision ends months of public debate over the surveillance cameras.

The vote goes beyond a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) directive issued in August that revoked permits for the cameras on state highways and set a Sept. 30 removal deadline. Tuesday's decision extends the removal to county-maintained roads.

Before the vote, commissioners heard from residents and from Howard Cole, a director with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. When a commissioner asked whether anyone in the department had ever misused the camera data, Cole confirmed one case.

"We did have a detective who was working an operation and at the same time he was purchasing a vehicle from out in the Panhandle. … He felt like he might be getting scammed. So he went into the system to search for his vehicle to see if it was actually being transported down I-10 like they said it was," Cole said.

Cole called the search "completely inappropriate personal use." He said the detective was disciplined and likely forfeited a promotion worth about $30,000. Cole added that the department had no cases of anyone using the system to search for, stalk or track another person.

The 3-2 split reflected a divide that has been visible for weeks. Commissioner Ann Taylor, who represents District 5 and Ponte Vedra Beach, has supported removal since the issue first surfaced. "I am glad that definitely our residents have been heard on this," Taylor said in early September, according to WOKV.

Commissioner Clay Murphy, a former state trooper who represents District 3, has opposed the removal. When the FDOT directive first surfaced on Sept. 2, Murphy told the St. Johns Citizen, "I think it is a blow to public safety. I think we will pay the price for that."

The cameras have drawn sustained public attention in St. Johns County. In early September, residents urged commissioners to deny the Sheriff's Office $500,000 in funding for automated license plate readers, Action News Jax reported. Sheriff Robert Hardwick said at a September budget meeting that at least 100 additional plate readers in the county belong to neighborhoods and homeowners associations, not his office.

Those privately owned cameras are not affected by Tuesday's vote.

Hardwick has said his office will not monitor them.