Understanding the Flock Contract in New Hanover County

In its $219,000 contract (the named customer is the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, executed through the county), the agency granted Flock a broad license to use data collected by Flock cameras in New Hanover County as necessary to provide services (see p. 12).

It also allows Flock to collect, analyze, and anonymize customer data and customer-generated data to create anonymized data for service improvement, diagnostics, other offerings, and machine-learning training, under a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free right (see pp. 12–13).

One of the most alarming parts of the contract is that New Hanover may grant a license to Flock to record and duplicate the data. See below:

Flock can also access, use, preserve, and/or disclose footage to law-enforcement authorities, government officials, and/or third parties if legally required or if Flock has a good-faith belief disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, enforce the agreement, or address security, privacy, fraud, technical issues, or emergencies (see p. 14). This appears to be the same reason that Hillsborough, NC canceled its Flock contract, and it is unclear whether it violates NC state law, which provides that:

(e) Captured plate data obtained in accordance with this Article is confidential and not a public record as that term is defined in G.S. 132-1. Data shall not be disclosed except to a criminal justice officer at a State or local law enforcement agency or a similar official at a federal law enforcement agency for a legitimate law enforcement purpose pursuant to a written request from the requesting agency. Written requests may be in electronic format. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as requiring the disclosure of captured plate data if a law enforcement agency determines that disclosure will compromise an ongoing investigation. Captured plate data shall not be sold for any purpose.

See the full statute on the NC General Assembly site.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-183.32 limits disclosure of captured plate data to a criminal justice officer, for a legitimate law-enforcement purpose, and pursuant to a written request. It also makes captured plate data confidential and not a public record. But this contract appears to allow data to be shared with government officials and third parties in Flock’s discretion.

• The contract’s “good-faith belief” standard appears broader than a statute that tightly restricts disclosure.
• Third-party integration sharing could be problematic if ALPR captured plate data is included.

The contract also does not spell out minimum logging, retention of logs, customer access to logs, tamper resistance, supervisory review, or reporting needed for public accountability.