ALPR 101: What’s Watching New Hanover — and What You Can Do
A free, plain-English session on the surveillance cameras around New Hanover County: what they actually capture, what our county’s own records reveal, and how ordinary residents are pushing back — with the August 17 Commissioners meeting six days later. No tech background needed. Bring your questions.
Online via Microsoft Teams
About 50 minutes · Free · Open to everyone
Register below and we’ll email you the private join link before we start, with a reminder. Can’t make it live? Register anyway — we’ll send the recording.
Fifty minutes, no jargon
What these cameras are
Plate readers vs. live-video Condors, and what a single Flock search actually pulls up — make, model, stickers, where you’ve been, who you travel with. In plain English.
What’s happening here
New Hanover County’s own numbers: ~$219,000, 2.98 million searches over about sixteen months with the searchers redacted, and eight live-video cameras the county won’t locate.
What you can do
The lawful, effective moves — the petition, emailing commissioners, speaking on August 17, and joining the hunt for the three hidden Condors. We’ll help you pick one.
- Welcome — why this matters (3 min)
- ALPR 101: what these cameras capture (12 min)
- What’s happening here — ~$219K, 2.98M searches, the redacted audit, the eight Condors (8 min)
- The issues — mass surveillance, the Fourth Amendment, no warrant, an unaudited reason field (5 min)
- August 17 — sign, email your leaders, speak, join the Condor hunt (8 min)
- Your questions (12 min)
How the August 17 meeting actually works
We confirmed the process with the Clerk to the Board. Here is exactly how to be heard — read it once and you’ll walk in knowing more than most people in the room.
1 · When & where
Monday, August 17 · meeting starts 4:00 PM. Historic Courthouse, Room 301, 24 N. Third Street. Enter through the Princess Street entrance, clear security screening, then go to the third floor.
2 · Sign up to speak
In person only — there is no online sign-up. The Clerk’s team signs speakers in by 3:30 PM, so arrive by then. There is no cap on speakers: everyone who signs up gets three minutes.
3 · Comment is at the end
Public comment is the last item of the meeting — there’s no fixed time. Plan to stay through the whole agenda so you don’t lose your turn. Bring a printed copy of your remarks for the Clerk.
4 · The rules (Rule 26)
Keep it germane to the Board’s authority. You may criticize the program and how officials have handled it — but no personal insults, threats, or profanity. Address the Board as a whole.
5 · Signs & clothing
Signs are allowed — just keep them from blocking anyone’s view. Clothing with a political message is fine. A room that looks united is part of the message.
6 · Can’t attend? Write.
The county has no general-comment portal (its online form is Planning & Land-Use only). Instead, email all five commissioners and the Clerk and ask to be entered into the record.
Email the Board & Clerk Full August 17 plan & talking points →
Register — we’ll send you the private Teams link
We keep the join link off this page on purpose. Add your email and we’ll send it to you before the session, with a reminder the day before and the recording afterward. Nothing else.
No tracking, never sold or shared. Unsubscribe anytime in one click.
This session is part of the National Week of Action Against ALPRs (Aug 16–22), and it’s the on-ramp to August 17, when the commissioners who fund the cameras meet. Come learn, then come speak.
You’re not a suspect. So stop being tracked like one.
It takes one minute. Add your name, then tell your county commissioners to cancel the Flock contract.