(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw recently told a local media outlet that the controversial Flock cameras helped his office catch Ryan Routh two years ago, after he tried killing Donald Trump at his Palm Beach golf course. Bradshaw is refusing to remove the Flock cameras from the state roads, despite an order from the Florida Department of Transportation for him to do so.
Routh was the man found hiding in some bushes at Trump’s golf course on Sept. 15, 2024. As Trump was golfing on another hole, a Secret Service agent spotted Routh pointing a rifle at the agent. The agent shot at Routh six times from about five feet away—missing all his shots and causing the would-be assassin to flee the scene. He was caught about 45 minutes later on the I-95 in Martin County. He was arrested and found guilty earlier this year of attempting to assassinate Trump.
Sheriff Bradshaw told a Palm Beach ABC News affiliate that Routh may have gotten away indefinitely if not for Flock cameras—the license plate-reading cameras that feed into a central database so that law enforcement can track people. Flock cameras have been the subject of privacy debates, and law enforcement officers have been caught abusing them to track people for personal reasons.
The Palm Beach County sheriff recently said that Flock cameras helped catch would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh (who initially got away after the Secret Service shot at and missed him 6 times).
The sheriff is refusing to remove his Flock cameras despite a state order to do so. He… https://t.co/U4xWMy66jF pic.twitter.com/RmRyv0QHSV
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 19, 2026
“We immediately got that tag number, put it into the system of the LPR, and sure enough, we got a hit that he was on I-95 going north,” Bradshaw said of Routh’s’ apprehension.
The sheriff disclosed Flock’s role in catching Routh as he refuses to remove the cameras—despite the Florida Department of Transportation’s order for the license plate readers to be removed from state rights of way.
Bradshaw says his office is exempt from the order due to its role in helping the Secret Service protect Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago residence is in his county.
“We have an exemption for that because of being involved with protecting the president here and being involved with the Secret Service; they realized the need that we have here for that,” he said—adding that the state has approved his request for an exemption.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
