ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — WPTV learned there are 13 license plate reader cameras in St. Lucie County that don't have permits, according to county staff.
Wednesday, Sept. 30, was the deadline the Florida Department of Transportation gave municipalities to remove the license plate readers from state-controlled roads.
WATCH BELOW: Unpermitted license plate readers found in St. Lucie County
Now WPTV is pressing city leaders about why the cameras are there, who they belong to, and what is happening to the cameras now.
On Thursday, WPTV spoke to Ricky Mathura, who works at a gas station off Orange Avenue and 25th Street in Fort Pierce, where one of the unpermitted license plate readers was found.
"I don't know why it's there," said Mathura. "Who put it up?"
St. Lucie County Communications Director Erick Gill said they're trying to find that out.
"We don't know who they belong to," Gill said. "They were just put in our right-of-way."
The county says there's 53 permitted license plate readers on their right-of-ways and gave WPTV a list with all the locations of the unpermitted license plate readers staff found.
RELATED: FDOT revokes permits for automated license plate readers
"We were surprised, you know, that were that many out there,” said Gill.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office told WPTV they claimed three of them but are working to find out why they weren't permitted.
Gill said county staff is actively working to identify the owners of the other readers and taped notices on the cameras for the owners to take them down within 30 days.
Once the 30 days are up, Gill said staff will remove the readers safely.
"We'll begin the process of either removing them if we feel like we can safely remove them without damaging the equipment and endangering our staff, or at least covering up so the cameras can't capture any surveillance," Gill said.
