St. Petersburg, FL Privacy & Surveillance: Security Camera Rules (2026)

Section 20-60(b)(1) is the only mandatory-camera provision in the St. Petersburg Code, and it regulates commercial security hardware, not residential surveillance. It applies to any "convenience store", a business "primarily engaged in the retail sale of groceries, or both groceries and gasoline" that is not exempt under section 20-59(a)(1)-(3), and requires a system "capable of recording and retrieving an image to assist in offender identification and apprehension," with cameras specifically aimed at the transaction counter and the entrance. The requirement is reinforced by subsection (c), which bars window tinting that "reduces exterior or interior view in a normal line of sight," so the cameras and any officer or passerby looking in keep a clear sightline to the register area.

The camera mandate was adopted with the rest of the convenience-store security package by Ordinance No. 00 cash-limit notice, and a drop safe. If a robbery or violent crime occurs at the store after March 12, 2009, subsection (d) requires the store to contact the Police Department within ten days for a CPTED review and add at least one further hardening measure. The Code does not separately license or restrict residential doorbell or exterior home cameras, and no Police Department camera-registry or Ring-partnership program appears anywhere in this chapter, so households are not covered by any local camera ordinance.