Controversial FLOCK cameras help track down suspect in Florida robbery

LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. (CBS, KYMA) - In Lake Worth Beach, investigators said the case moved quickly after a robbery Monday night, the pizza delivery driver gave deputies a description of the suspect's truck and its license plate.

Detectives entered that information into a license plate reader system.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Eastern Tuesday, a camera hit placed the truck in Lake Park roughly 12 hours after the robbery.

While supporters call them a valuable crime fighting tool, critics continue to raise privacy concerns.

FDOT has ordered license plate readers removed from state road rights of way.

The Sheriff tells CBS 12 News that PBSO has an exemption to keep operating cameras on state roads.

He says the cameras are especially important when the President is in town and in cases like this one.

"These cameras are absolutely necessary to find people like this. There's no privacy issue out here. It's just like cameras when you're walking around out here that are in convenience stores outside in the parking lot. You don't have any privacy rights, you're out here in public. So this was another example of how it's helped us find this guy in a timely fashion," said Sheriff Ric L. Bradshaw, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Bradshaw said the 54-year-old suspect had a lengthy criminal history that included carjacking, robbery, kidnapping, assault, fraud, drug offenses, and other felony crimes.