Blog & Updates
Analysis, presentations, and developments on Flock surveillance in New Hanover County.
New Hanover Voted to Remove Its Flock Cameras. 52 Days Later, They’re Still Up.
On Sept. 8 the commissioners voted 4–0 to cancel the Sheriff’s stationary Flock ALPR contract. It is now Oct. 30 and the cameras are still on the poles. Flock owns the hardware and controls removal — and across the country its removal record is slow and unreliable, from a Minnesota chief who pulled the cameras himself to a city that found them reinstalled. We asked the Board for a firm removal date, written confirmation, data deletion, and a plan for the eight park Condor cameras the vote never reached.
Axon Is Now Licensed in North Carolina — After Our Complaint. We Filed to Learn How.
In August, the state licensing board confirmed Axon held no North Carolina license, and we filed a Chapter 74D complaint. On Oct. 28 the board withdrew it: Axon is now licensed. The license lists Axon Enterprise, Inc. with qualifying agent Ryan Christopher Smith (Alarm No. 416182-CSA, exp. 10/31/2028). We’ve asked the board for the records behind it — the application, the correspondence, and the chronology of when Axon applied relative to our complaint.
Private Stores and HOAs May Face Liability Under NC Law for Their Flock Cameras
Police and county commissioners aren’t the only ones accountable for Flock. The private businesses and HOAs that run these cameras — Lowe’s parking lots, neighborhood gates — face no Fourth Amendment limit and no county vote, but they may face liability under North Carolina privacy, consumer-protection, corporate, and property law. Three state claims could be tested against the fact pattern, plus a fourth aimed at HOAs — with their limits laid out, a checklist for residents, and a starting point for attorneys.
Educating the Public Was Always the Point
Our mission is to educate the public about mass government surveillance — and it is working in two ways. Newsrooms in 38 states have carried our Flock findings, and the public is reading the records directly. More than 90 public-records requests, more than 200 articles and explainers, in-person talks to groups from the NAACP to the Cape Fear Libertarian Party, and free public seminars. Plus where we go next: Axon Fusus real-time crime centers, PTZ cameras, and drone operations across Southeastern North Carolina.
Where Your Candidates Stand on Flock — On the Record, Updated Daily.
A statewide sister group, DeFlockNC, emailed every candidate on North Carolina’s 2026 ballot five plain questions about license-plate surveillance and is posting the answers verbatim as they arrive. More than 80 candidates have replied so far — Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens and unaffiliated alike — and the agreement is striking. Five Cape Fear candidates have now answered, including New Hanover and Brunswick commissioners. Here is what the survey shows statewide and at home, who has responded, and how to check for new answers before you vote.
They Said Outside Agencies Must Request the Data. The County’s Log Shows 388 Grants of Access.
Sheriff’s officials told commissioners outside departments “must request information… rather than searching it directly” (WECT). But Brunswick’s own Flock Event Log records 388 grants of access to 355 distinct outside agencies in 2026 — 353 of them out of state, and 140 including live or recorded video. The record that would show how that access was used — the inbound Network Audit — was requested June 29, 2026 and had not been provided as of publication, though neighboring Kure Beach produced it to the same request.
Brunswick Finally Wrote a Real Audit Rule. It Stops at the County Line.
Ten days after a former lieutenant was indicted, the Brunswick County Sheriff rewrote his Flock policy a third time — and it is a serious document. It can audit the Sheriff’s own deputies. It cannot touch the thousands of outside agencies that run about 9 in 10 of the searches, because a county cannot write rules for police it does not employ — and the records prove the volume lives out of state.
Pender Taxpayers Are Funding a Spy Network — for Texas
The hard-working people of Pender County — including Atkinson, the first NC town to ban these cameras — are paying for a Flock network searched 2,101,548 times in three months, about 94% of the searching agencies from out of state. Texas and Florida police watch the roads through Burgaw, and the Sheriff and Board of Commissioners built it.
206,411 Searches, Zero From North Carolina: Who Was Really Watching UNC-Chapel Hill
UNC–Chapel Hill produced the Network Audit it withheld for months. In one 30-day window, 206,411 outside searches reached the campus cameras, run by 2,450 agencies — not one in North Carolina. Houston PD led. The University’s own police ran 622 searches in nine months. Days after the records surfaced, UNC turned off sharing.
The Park Cameras Don’t Protect Children. They Expose Them.
Flock sells its Condor cameras as child protection — it markets auto-zoom on faces “as they play on a playground.” But the video of a child at the park sits under North Carolina’s weakest privacy law, in a system an officer was already charged with weaponizing to expose an undercover colleague to a drug suspect. A searchable, shareable, breachable record of where your child is, is not safety.
A Public Park Is Not a Suspect Line-Up. Take the Flock Condors Down.
Eight Flock Condor cameras let government operators aim and zoom live video at people in New Hanover County parks — joggers, families, kids at soccer practice — none of them suspected of anything. The objection isn’t that the rules are too loose; it’s that a free country does not watch law-abiding people by default. On October 19, residents can ask the Board to take them down.
A Policy Did Exist Before September 1 — and What It Left Out Was Worse Than None
Brunswick’s earlier ALPR policy has surfaced. It addressed databases, retention, training, and security — and deliberately left out the one thing state law makes mandatory: a requirement to audit. A written rule that skips the audit doesn’t just violate the statute. It tells every user the searches will not be checked.
North Carolina Counted Its Own Plate Readers. New Hanover Leads the State.
We read all 180 pages of the SBI’s final report on highway license-plate readers. The state’s own numbers: 319,641,653 plates captured, New Hanover County the single largest capturer in North Carolina — and an oversight structure built for one employee. Plus the Brunswick policy the report reprints: an ‘Audit Review’ section with no audit in it.
The Cloud Isn’t a Metaphor: What Flock Has to Do With the Data-Center Fight
North Carolina towns are halting hyperscale data centers over power and water. Flock runs its nationwide plate database on AWS data centers — but the moratoriums are about resources, not surveillance. The honest links, the ones we won’t overstate, and the better question: what is all that computation for?
What No One Is Telling You About Lt. Daniel Little’s Indictment in Brunswick County
The Flock indictment is only part of the story: seven months in the system before anyone acted, 145 flags across 17 employees cleared in a single day, a governing ALPR policy that required no audit — and out-of-state records show the same account searching the same indicted plate 19 months earlier.
ALPR, Explained: What License-Plate Readers Are — and How They Became Mass Surveillance
The camera is fifty-year-old technology; the surveillance is not. A plain-English guide: how old ALPR is, who uses it (police and the repo industry alike), when AI and a nationwide movement database got added, Flock’s patent to track people and faces, how many cameras are in NC, and how the systems all connect.
Flock Misuse Is Only a Misdemeanor in NC — Whichever Law They Use
A Franklin County detective was fired for tracking a private citizen through Flock, and the DA called it a misdemeanor. He’s right — and so is the ALPR statute. Both the 1979 computer law and the 2023 ALPR law are Class 1 misdemeanors, the same class as shoplifting under $1,000. Why the penalty is thinner than the intrusion.
Sheriff: “I Don’t Work for You.” Commissioner: “We Set Your Budget.”
A Brunswick sheriff told commissioners he answers to the citizens, not the board. True — and the board sets his budget anyway. In five Cape Fear counties, 60–70% of the sheriff’s budget sits above the legal floor, where a Flock contract lives. The statutes, the numbers, and the lever Macon and New Hanover already pulled.
A Federal Judge Called Flock ‘Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance’ — and Found It Unconstitutional
In United States v. Kyle (N.D. Okla., Oct. 1, 2026), a federal court held that running a plate through Flock pulled a month of location data — an unconstitutional warrantless search under the Fourth Amendment — and suppressed the evidence. A careful break from the weight of authority, built on Carpenter and Chatrie.
Brunswick County’s Flock Network Shares Live-Video Access With Agencies in 20+ States
The Sheriff’s Office says it doesn’t use Flock’s live-video cameras — but its own Flock configuration grants live-video (VMS) permissions to 108 agencies outside North Carolina, and pan-tilt-zoom camera control to one. Drawn from BCSO’s own records.
What Happened Inside Brunswick County’s Flock System Before the Public Was Told?
A document-driven look at BCSO’s Flock records: years of use before any written policy surfaced, an earlier policy that still required no audit, 145 audit items archived in a single day, an Internal Affairs role and the Sheriff’s attorney added, an officer’s account deleted, and out-of-state video permissions — with the questions the County Commissioners should ask.
Atkinson Bans Flock — North Carolina’s First Outright ALPR Ban
A Pender County town of a few hundred people just did what no other North Carolina jurisdiction has: adopted an ordinance prohibiting automated license-plate-reader cameras — Flock included — within its limits. Rockingham County passed the first ALPR ordinance in September; Atkinson went further, to an outright ban.
The Live Feed: Cameras That Watch in Real Time
New Hanover’s own Fusus logs show 20,602 live-video views, deputies steering PTZ cameras, and Wilmington PD watching the county’s feeds 154 times — the real-time surveillance the plate-search records never showed.
Flock Condor Cameras: What They Are, How to Spot Them, Where They Are
New Hanover’s Flock contract included eight Condors — pan-tilt-zoom video cameras that can follow people, not plate readers. What a Condor is, how to recognize one, where the county’s eight are (seven located — two at Ogden Park, one on a children’s soccer field), and why New Hanover is the only Cape Fear county that runs them.
Voters Oppose Flock Cameras. Why Won’t NC Leaders Listen?
A majority of voters — 60% — now view Flock negatively, and the opposition is bipartisan and doesn’t soften on the crime-fighting pitch. Yet nearly every Cape Fear board keeps the cameras running. Four honest reasons why — and the one thing that has ever changed a board’s mind.
‘It’s Public’ Doesn’t Mean They Can Track You
‘You’re in public, so a camera on a public road is fair game’ is the most common defense of Flock — and it’s not what the Fourth Amendment says. One glance is public; a searchable record of everywhere you’ve driven is not. The short version, with the Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit cases that draw the line.
Plate Readers Weren’t Built for Divorce Court
An NC House candidate — a family-law attorney — said she has used Flock plate-reader data to catch cheating spouses. Under NC law, a private lawyer can’t access law-enforcement plate data for that. So either it was misuse the statute makes a crime, or it was private-market data anyone can buy — and both prove the point about how far this data travels.
We Support Law Enforcement
We are not anti-police — and this is the piece that says so. We support law enforcement that keeps its oath to the Constitution, follows the profession’s own Code of Ethics, tells people the truth, and treats residents as citizens with rights. Those standards — the Oath of Honor, the Code of Ethics, policing by consent, 21st-century procedural justice — are the profession’s own, and they are the case against warrantless mass surveillance.
Congress Held a Hearing on Flock. Our Local Officials Won’t.
On Sept. 23 the U.S. Senate put Flock’s nationwide surveillance network under oath — and the companies refused to appear. Meanwhile Brunswick sent its review behind closed doors, Onslow sits while residents complain, Columbus says nothing, Pender’s chair waved it off, and our state delegation voted to expand the system. Washington asked the hard questions; the locals are marching the other way.
Law Enforcement Wrote Its Own ALPR Standards. The Cape Fear Isn’t Following Them.
Ten national police organizations issued a joint statement on the “responsible” use of license-plate readers — credentialed access, real audits, legitimate purposes, consequences for abuse. We hold the Cape Fear’s own records up to that yardstick: protest-labeled searches, nine in ten searches with no case number, no independent audit, nationwide access — and the documented case of the county running protest organizer Cheyanne Dos Santos’s plate under a case it labeled “Protest.”
Brunswick Hit Pause on Flock — and Revealed a Much Bigger Surveillance System
Brunswick’s commissioners voted 5–0 to pause new plate-reader purchases. Then the meeting exposed in-car Axon readers in every deputy’s vehicle, an Airship AI system bought with no board vote, and an audit no one outside the Sheriff’s Office is required to check. What the record shows — and the five questions the county has 30 days to answer.
Flock Isn’t Just a Camera Company — It’s a Licensed Private Investigator
North Carolina’s own license records show Flock Group Inc. holds two active licenses: the alarm license it fought for years before it had to get, and a ‘Private Investigator’ license (#876980, through 2028) it volunteered for. You don’t get a private eye’s license to read a plate — you get one to investigate people.
Surf City Has Run Flock Since 2023 — and Shares It With 187 Agencies
Surf City took up license plate readers on Sept 17 as an open question. Its own records, produced the same day, show a five-year Flock contract signed in 2023 and a network already shared with 187 agencies — including Houston, Fort Worth, and the NC SBI — even as the Town told residents sharing is ‘discretionary.’
The Backlash Reaches Congress: The No FLOCK Act
A bipartisan bill would dock 10% of a state’s federal highway funds unless it limits license plate readers to five uses. It’s early — and it’s not alone. What the No FLOCK Act does, why a Texas Republican and an Illinois Democrat filed it together, and why the fastest lever is still your county board.
Flock’s Own Patent Proves It’s More Than a Plate Reader
Flock says it’s ‘not a live-tracking system.’ Its own U.S. Patent 11,416,545 — signed by the CEO — describes tracking a named person across unrelated cameras (its example: a subscriber’s teenage daughter) and searching by face. Read the patent in full, embedded on the page.
Wilmington Already Runs Plate Readers. They Just Aren’t Flock.
The police chief says the city has no Flock contract and that ALPRs need guardrails ‘before the cameras are implemented.’ But WPD’s own directive shows Wilmington already operates fixed and mobile plate readers — on Axon. If guardrails are the precondition, produce the audit.
The Trust Is Broken
New Hanover asked Flock for a $53,571 refund after pulling its plate readers — but kept the eight live-video Condors. First they were ‘just plate readers.’ Then the office told WWAY it was ‘ending its access to the Flock camera system,’ and now says it will keep the Condors. And the Condors sit in the state right-of-way with no permits.
Asheville Cut Flock. The County Built a 4,500-Camera Hub.
Asheville’s council voted to drop Flock. In the same county, the Sheriff runs an Axon/Fusus surveillance hub built to network up to 4,500 camera feeds — on a $13 million contract. We obtained what they’d release, and pushed back on what they hid.
The Town Called Plate Data Confidential. Then It Handed Us the Plates.
Atlantic Beach refused its license-plate read log as confidential — then its own audit log disclosed 153 plates its officers searched, and the officers who ran them. We are not publishing any of it. Here’s what the data shows, and what we chose to protect.
We Wrote to 14 Officials. Two Answered.
One nonpartisan question, sent to our entire local delegation and every beach-town council. Three weeks later, only Rep. Deb Butler and the Town of Leland have answered. We’re publishing the record.
What Do the Cape Fear Sheriffs Have in Common?
Four sheriffs built Flock networks (New Hanover just voted its down) — and not one will release the Network Audit that names who searched their cameras. Measured by the same record: McMahon, Cutler, Rogers, and Chism.
Sheriff Chism’s Case for Flock, Fact-Checked
Brunswick’s sheriff defends Flock with hand-picked anecdotes and ‘no court has ruled it unconstitutional.’ We answer point by point — with his own county’s audit, New Hanover’s outcomes data, and the Fourth Circuit.
New Hanover Ships Your Plate Data to Three States and the Feds
The county canceled Flock — but its own records show it signed a pact feeding plate, dispatch, and intelligence data into a three-state, 120+-agency HIDTA database that includes the feds. And the Flock system’s own outcomes: 43 arrests and zero drug seizures from 2.98 million searches.
The Private-Police Loophole: How Corporations Get on Flock’s Grid
A private hospital, railroad, or security corporation can hold a NC police commission — and a Flock account with nationwide search. WakeMed, ECU Health, and Elon are already in the audit logs; out-of-state searchers face even fewer limits than NC law imposes.
They Won’t Show You Who’s Watching. These Agencies Did.
WSSU just released its Flock Network Audit — 1,430,185 searches in a quarter, ~86% from out of state. It took one export. Which is why the agencies still redacting or withholding the same record are out of excuses.
The Audit Worked. The System Still Failed.
A New Hanover grand jury indicted a former Wrightsville Beach officer for Flock misuse — she reached into the county’s system to run two plates without a legitimate purpose. The town’s audit caught it, after the fact.
The Campus Cameras Asheville Didn’t Cancel
Asheville’s City Council cancelled Flock on Aug. 25 — but UNC Asheville runs its own campus network the vote never touched. Its records: 1,280,229 searches in a spring quarter by 3,472 agencies, 79% from out of state.
New Hanover County Canceled Its Flock Contract
On a unanimous 4-0 vote, the New Hanover commissioners terminated the county’s $219,000 Flock contract — Vice Chair Dane Scalise moving to cancel, not pause. What it does, what it doesn’t, and the coalition that made it happen.
Seventeen NC Communities Have Said No to Flock — Atkinson Becomes the First to Ban It
The running list of North Carolina towns and counties that removed, rejected, or banned Flock — Atkinson became the first to ban ALPR outright, eight cancelled by public vote (New Hanover among them, 4–0), and eight more stopped or headed it off. The tide turned; here is the count.
83,232 Flock Searches. 90% Had No Case Number. The Audits Are Still Withheld.
Part III of our Cape Fear investigation moves past New Hanover to Brunswick, Pender, and Columbus. Brunswick ran 83,232 searches — 90% with no case number — and, like its neighbors, has withheld the audit logs that would let anyone check. Same records, same method as our New Hanover reporting.
New Hanover Redacted Who Searched Its Flock Cameras. We Recovered the Searcher for About 96%.
The Sheriff’s Office produced ~2.98 million Flock search records and blacked out who ran them. Using other states’ public records, we rebuilt it: more than 4,600 searching organizations, about 94% from outside North Carolina — Houston alone more than 75,000 times. Of recovered searches, 99% resolved to a single agency. A data companion to our “Protest” report.
New Hanover Sheriff Ran a Protest Leader’s Plate Under a Case It Labeled “Protest”
On the morning of Nov. 22, 2025, the Sheriff’s Office ran four broad plate searches under a case its own system labeled “Protest,” reason “Intel” — hours before an ICE protest at its doors. One of the searched plates belongs to an organizer of that protest, who confirmed it. The records name no law-enforcement purpose; we ask the Sheriff’s Office to explain, and will print its answer in full.
Flock and State Governments Are Making the Records That Caught Police Abusing Flock Disappear
The public audit logs that exposed police tracking people thousands of times are being narrowed — Flock stripped key fields from cross-agency audits after the disclosures, and some states are limiting what the public can see. What an outsider could verify in 2025, they often cannot in 2026.
Whiteville Produced Everything. The Sheriff Next Door Took 65 Days.
Two Columbus County agencies got the same Flock records request on the same day. Whiteville Police produced it all in three weeks — contract, adopted policy, invoices, and the Network Audit naming who searches its cameras: 1.17 million outside searches in four months, ~93–99.9% from out of state, Houston, TX the top searcher every month. The County Sheriff produced only after 65 days and a mediation offer — and hasn’t yet released the Network Audit that names who’s searching his.
Where the Commissioners & Candidates Stand on Flock
All three challengers on the November ballot are on record against the program — Dr. LeShonda Wallace (D), Bob Drach (L), and Richard Collier (R), who says he is ‘not in favor of the Flock Cameras.’ A cross-partisan sweep, while the incumbents running for re-election (LeAnn Pierce and Rob Zapple) still haven’t taken an official stand. The full scorecard, updated as answers arrive.
A Felony Charge Over a Flock Camera in Brunswick County
Brunswick County charged a Southport man with felony larceny of a Sheriff’s Office Flock camera. A charge is not a conviction — and we say plainly where we stand: DeFlockILM does not condone the theft, destruction, or vandalism of these cameras. We report the case, and a supporter fundraiser, neutrally.
75 Million Searches — and It Was Reporters, Not Police, Who Exposed the Abuse
USA TODAY analyzed 75 million Flock searches and found misuse agencies missed. We use the same public records to read the Cape Fear — New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Carolina Beach — and explain why North Carolina’s “confidential” plate data still surfaces through other states.
We Asked NCDOT to Enforce: Four Unpermitted Flock Condors in the State Right-of-Way
NCDOT admits it issued no encroachment for a single Flock “Condor” camera, asked Flock to apply, and got nothing — then said an unpermitted device in the right-of-way “may be in violation of GS 136-18(10).” We filed a formal complaint asking the Department to make the call and require the cameras to be permitted or removed.
Two Sheriffs, One Week: Why You Only Hear About Flock Misuse When Charges Are Filed
One Cape Fear sheriff disclosed an employee’s misuse he was not required to reveal; fifty miles east, another put the rule in writing — misuse stays sealed unless it becomes a crime. In North Carolina, plate-reader abuse becomes public almost only when a prosecutor charges it. So the cases we can name are a floor, not a full count — and the fix is the audit itself.
A Flock Misuse Case in Brunswick County — Caught by an Audit
A Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office employee resigned and is under NC SBI review after a routine audit of Flock activity flagged alleged misuse. The second Cape Fear Flock-misuse matter we track — and it turns on the exact record agencies fight to keep secret: the audit itself.
Not Every Camera Is Flock: A Straight Answer From Belville
The crowdsourced map showed two plate-reader pins in Belville. We asked, and checked the hardware. The answer: ordinary Uniview surveillance cameras — not ALPR, not Flock — in a town with no police department that shares nothing except through a public-records request. When the honest answer is ‘that’s not what you thought,’ we report that too.
Immigration Enforcement Is Searching North Carolina’s Flock Cameras — 2,698 Times
We read every unredacted NC network audit we hold. Out-of-state agencies ran 2,698 immigration-labeled searches against cameras in six NC communities — 833 of them civil, deportation-type; 219 tagged I.C.E. The biggest searcher of all, Houston, labeled none. New Hanover redacts the same record entirely.
A NC Sheriff’s Plate Readers Alert on ‘Immigration Violators’
We obtained a North Carolina sheriff’s ALPR policy. It lists the eleven hotlist categories its Flock cameras alert on — and numbers six and seven are the federal ‘Immigration Violator’ and ‘Suspected Terrorist’ files. The plate network isn’t only looking for stolen cars, and no one voted on that.
North Carolina’s Own Licensing Board Ordered Flock to Stop in 2022
The public fight over Flock feels new. It isn’t. We obtained the state Alarm Systems Licensing Board’s internal file — including a January 2022 cease-and-desist finding Flock was operating ‘without having been properly licensed,’ the 2022 complaints, and the enforcement lawsuit. The origin story of the whole fight — and why our new 74D complaints follow directly from it.
The People Who Run North Carolina’s Surveillance Help Write Its Laws
Police surveillance is supposed to be authorized by people outside law enforcement. In North Carolina, at nearly every link — the sheriff who runs the cameras and led the sheriffs’ lobby, the legislators it honors, the former lawmen who sponsored the bill, the committees that fund it — the decider is law enforcement or its closest ally. A structural look at who oversees the overseers.
North Carolina’s Digital Driver’s License Is Coming. Keep the Plastic One.
NC’s Mobile ID launches in the NC Wallet app in December 2026. It’s convenient — but handing an officer your unlocked phone to show a digital license creates a consent-to-search gray area that Indiana closed by statute and North Carolina did not. What the law protects, what it doesn’t, and why to keep carrying a physical license.
Watched Without a Vote
One contract at a time, the state’s local governments are assembling an integrated surveillance system — plate readers, facial recognition, drones, phone-tracking, and the real-time crime centers that fuse them onto one screen. Nobody voted for the whole. What the records show, and what it adds up to.
The New Hanover Sheriff Bought Facial Recognition
Sheriff Ed McMahon said the county’s Flock cameras don’t use facial recognition. True — but not the whole truth. The county’s own contracts show the Sheriff’s Office purchased Clearview AI (‘Search PRO,’ $12,995/yr, Contract #24-0236) and Pen-Link phone-location surveillance. Flock doesn’t run facial recognition; the office that owns the cameras bought software that does.
Three License-Plate-Reader Vendors Are Operating in NC Without a State License, Complaints Allege
DeFlockILM filed complaints with the North Carolina Security Systems Licensing Board against Axon, Rekor, and SoundThinking (PlateRanger), alleging each installs, services, or monitors ALPR and camera systems across the state without the Chapter 74D license the law requires — the same statute a court used to halt Flock in 2023. The Board’s own director confirmed on Aug. 28 that all three were ‘not licensed, no records on file’ — though Axon has since become licensed (Oct. 2026) and that complaint was withdrawn. Full complaints and exhibits attached.
Wilmington’s Flock Fight Went National Tonight
Barry Harris took the county’s anti-surveillance stand to Newsmax’s Carl Higbie FRONTLINE — and the segment aired our own commissioners under the words ‘moved by anti-Flock speakers.’ The next move belongs to Vice Chair Dane Scalise: will he move to end the cameras?
UNC Wilmington Doesn’t Use Flock. It Said So in Writing.
New Hanover County’s own university confirmed in a signed records response that it runs no Flock or ALPR cameras — no plate data, no audits, no MOUs. The only wrinkle: a free KNC ‘Cloudrunner’ ALPR demo that ran Dec 2025–June 2026 and has ended, plus four parking-only LPRs. We publish a clean answer as plainly as a troubling one — and note the Sheriff who does run a network still won’t name who searches it.
App State and Boone Turned Off Nationwide Flock Sharing. New Hanover Won’t.
Appalachian State cut its cameras off the national network in August; the Boone Police Department dropped from 1,000+ agencies to 41 after a May 13 Town Council transparency resolution. New Hanover was asked to do the same on Aug 17 — and still shares with a nationwide network and six federal agencies. It’s a switch, and two Watauga County agencies flipped it off.
The Sheriff Got Permits for His Plate Readers. His Live-Video Condors Have None.
NCDOT records show five encroachment permits for New Hanover plate readers in the state’s right-of-way — and not one for a Flock ‘Condor’ live-video camera. NCDOT asked Flock to file for them, Flock hasn’t, and NCDOT warned an unapproved device in the right-of-way may violate GS 136-18(10). A removal lever that has nothing to do with the privacy fight.
Flock Pitched Leland a $180,700 Camera System. The Town Hasn’t Bought It.
Public records show the full Flock sales pitch to the Town of Leland: an in-person demo, a $180,700 budgetary quote for 18 cameras — including ten ‘Condor’ live-video cameras and AI plain-language search — and a December 2025 presentation to the Town Council. But the Town Clerk confirms Leland has no ALPR program. The moment before a program, documented — and Flock’s own paperwork calls its PTZ camera ‘fka Condor.’
You Thought Flock Was the Surveillance. The Sheriff Has 2,147 Cameras on His Map.
The network you know: 36 Flock cameras, finally getting a public fight. The network you don’t: 2,147 private and business cameras mapped to the Sheriff’s Axon Fusus platform, 716 integrated for direct access, AI-capable, and never put to a public vote. Wilmington PD runs the same Fusus/STING model — and its own written policy shows how the private-camera footage is walled off from public records by design.
You Thought Flock Was the Surveillance. Meet the Sheriff’s 2,147-Camera Network.
New Hanover fought all summer over 36 Flock cameras. The Sheriff quietly runs a second network many times larger — 2,147 private and business cameras on an Axon Fusus platform, 716 wired for live access, with AI that flags weapons and vehicles. It never went to a vote.
The Sheriff Answered. His Answers Confirm the Problem.
Sheriff McMahon answered Commissioner Stephanie Walker’s 14 questions on the Flock program — and confirmed it in his own words: he audits himself, misuse stays sealed unless it’s a crime, the searching-agency names stay redacted, and six federal agencies have access, including the FBI. A commitment to no external review is the same commitment that, in the wrong hands, leads to a Sheriff Hoover.
What If Sheriff Hoover Had Flock Cameras?
J. Edgar Hoover ran Washington on secret files. Now give that power to a county sheriff — a plate-reader network plus cameras that follow people — and the only audit North Carolina law requires goes to the sheriff himself. Why internal-only oversight is the fatal flaw.
Have I Been Flocked Doesn’t Work in North Carolina
A website lets you search released Flock logs for your plate. In North Carolina it will almost always show nothing — even if your car has been searched many times — because state law redacts the plate itself. A blank result proves nothing.
Who Can Actually Stop the Cameras?
Residents are told local government is powerless over Flock because the Sheriff is elected. Half true. A county controls the money, the contracts, and the land; a town can end its program outright. The authority behind two model resolutions, county and municipal.
Where They Stand: The Officials Behind NC’s Plate Readers
Who put North Carolina’s license-plate surveillance in place — the sponsors, the votes, the Pender board that bought in on a consent agenda — and who’s running for office without saying a word about it. The record, fairly stated.
The ALPR Machine: The Companies Behind the Cameras
From the land under the pole to the Amazon cloud, plate-reader surveillance runs on a chain of private companies — the host, the vendor, the license, the engineer, the cloud. We followed it, and found a pressure point at every link.
The Plate Belongs to the State. Your Movements Don’t.
A deputy said Flock is legal because the State owns your plate. He’s right about the plate — and wrong about everything after it. What Carpenter, Chatrie, and forty years of caselaw actually say.
What Is a Panopticon?
The 234-year-old prison design behind the Flock debate — what the word means, where it fits an ALPR network, where it doesn’t, and how the law shifted this summer. Plain-English, and honest about both sides.
Where You Drove. What You Spent. Who Gets to Ask.
New Hanover’s plate readers sit at the center of 2.98 million searches against a county of 230,000. The cameras are the visible half of a permission system — and every claim here rests on a court record, a state audit, a statute, or a named investigation.
Left, Right, and Everyone In Between
One of the few issues uniting the ACLU, libertarian Republicans, a conservative Christian leader, socialists, and thousands of ordinary residents: opposition to Flock’s mass license-plate surveillance. What the coalition is — and, honestly, what it isn’t.
The Cameras Belong to Lowe’s. The Government Has the Key.
A protest at the S. College Road Lowe’s is not our action — our position is narrower, and stronger. Lowe’s gave the SBI standing, warrantless access to its Flock cameras across three states and never told customers. The five changes we ask Lowe’s to make this week.
One Request. Three Excuses. One Hundred Days.
Carolina Beach and Kure Beach produced their Flock search logs in days. Wrightsville Beach referred ours to a law firm — whose counsel has since given three shifting reasons the per-search audits can’t be produced, each abandoning the last. A hundred days in, the logs that name who searched the town’s cameras still haven’t come. The full exchange, letter by letter.
No Charges, No Transparency: How Flock Misuse Stays Hidden
One Mooresville officer was charged and the public learned everything; ten more were found to have violated policy and the public learns nothing. We read every downloadable NC transparency-portal audit — 26 agencies, 2,795 searches — to test whether the portals fill that gap. 41% of searches state no reason at all, three agencies publish no reason field, and the barred “Traffic Infraction” uses that do appear will never produce a charge.
New Hanover Named Two Laws to Justify the Redactions. Neither One Fits.
The county finally gave a legal reason for hiding who searches your plates — two public-records statutes, cited to a newspaper. Read them: § 132-1.4 protects records about a person, not a field naming an agency; § 132-1.7 is about building plans, not access logs. And six NC agencies released this exact field under the same laws.
What Actually Happens to Your Flock Data After 30 Days?
The Sheriff cut retention 90→30 days, which sounds like the data is wiped. For the raw plate captures, it is — we credit that. But the search logs persist (the county produced 16.5 months of them), the county’s own contract lets outside systems keep exported copies longer and hands Flock a perpetual right to an anonymized derivative, and reporting shows the data spreads across the national network. Sourced to Flock’s own policy and the contract.
“No Facial Recognition” Is Not the Reassurance It Sounds Like
Flock’s cameras don’t run facial recognition — true, but that describes the software, not what happens to an image after it leaves. The bigger issue is documented: Flock’s API is built to export data, and once it does, the county’s 30-day deletion no longer applies. A researcher has shown the downstream step is feasible. We’re clear about what we can and can’t prove.
The Sheriff’s Office Runs 3.9% of the Searches on Its Own Cameras
The StarNews confirmed with the Sheriff’s Office: its deputies ran just 3.9% of the searches on New Hanover’s Flock cameras in early 2026 — 13,322 of 338,431. The other 96% is outside agencies the county won’t name.
Three Cameras in the Mountains, Searched 1.5 Million Times
Appalachian State runs three Flock cameras in Boone — searched 1,511,722 times in a quarter, 84% from outside NC (Houston, TX PD alone 177,461). Then it withheld the camera count its own contract states.
Four Cameras, 2.56 Million Searches
A town of 2,400 released the record most agencies withhold. Its four Flock cameras were searched 2,560,152 times over five months by 3,712 organizations — 92.5% from outside North Carolina, the FBI its second-largest searcher. The Town had switched nationwide sharing on, and state and 50-mile sharing off.
Put It to a Public Vote First — the Floor If a Board Won’t Remove Flock
Our position is removal. But if a board insists on keeping surveillance tech, this drafted resolution forces the skipped step — a public vote before any deployment or renewal — and sets the floor: nationwide data-sharing shut off, mandatory monthly external audits, hard vendor limits, and public reporting of misuse even when the personnel file stays sealed.
The Sheriff’s Flock “Transparency Portal,” Fact-Checked
Sheriff McMahon cut retention, added a monthly audit, and launched a transparency portal in response to the pressure. We credit the steps — then check them against his own words: 36 cameras the portal listed as only 19 plate readers (the Sheriff later clarified: 28 readers + 8 Condor PTZ), hidden locations, an in-house audit that can’t see the ~90% of searches from out of state, and a portal the public can’t even archive.
Sheriff McMahon Says Community Trust Comes First. Did the Flock Rollout Meet His Own Standard?
Law enforcement’s own governing documents make public trust the foundation of legitimacy — and say the community gets a voice before new surveillance technology is deployed. New Hanover’s Sheriff staked his office on that standard, with CALEA accreditation and a Triple Crown. Then a plate-reader and live-video Condor network went live with no public debate. The argument that requires no bad faith.
A Charlotte TV Station Asked About Flock. A Majority Said No.
Queen City News reported that a majority of a Charlotte-market poll do not support law enforcement using Flock cameras — the first NC public-opinion signal, and it points the same way as the petitions and cancellations. Why it matters for New Hanover’s Aug 17 meeting.
Flock Says Nobody at the Company Sees Your Footage. A City’s Logs Show Employees Did.
A Georgia city’s audit logs show Flock employees viewed private cameras — including sensitive locations — to demo the product to other departments. Flock says it was authorized, and we correct the false ‘CEO watched kids’ version. The documented story: it contradicts Flock’s promise that no one at the company accesses your footage — and New Hanover runs eight live-video Condors on the same platform.
It Was Never Just the Cameras on the Poles
A leaked Flock pitch shows the company planned to turn roughly 350,000 Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers into roaming plate scanners through a dashcam partnership. Flock says it never closed the deal — but the ambition, and the mobile-ALPR reality behind it, is why the pole count understates the network you’re buying.
A Town Shut Off Its Flock Cameras. Flock Turned Them Back On.
Littleton, Massachusetts voted to power down its Flock cameras. Weeks later, police found Flock had switched five of them back on without telling the town — on the company’s ‘standard operating procedure.’ What that means for New Hanover’s belief that it can cancel anytime.
A Federal Court Just Struck Down Dragnet Cell Searches. Flock Is Next.
A judge ruled ‘tower dump’ warrants — a reverse search of everyone’s phone data to find one suspect — are unconstitutional general warrants, building on the Supreme Court’s Chatrie decision. An ALPR network runs on the same logic. Why plate-reader dragnets are the next domino.
NCDOT Has Its Own Flock Deal
Records show the state DOT signed its own live-video MOU with Flock Safety, the New Hanover Sheriff placed four plate readers in state right-of-way with permits, and Flock’s Condor cameras have no encroachments at all — which NCDOT flags as a possible GS 136-18(10) violation.
The Camera Caught the Officer. Would Regulation Catch the Rest?
Two NC officers were charged in a week for misusing Flock. The usual answer is regulation. We give that case its full strength — then show why the audits, the secrecy, the out-of-state data, and the unsettled Fourth Amendment law point the other way: remove the cameras, don’t regulate them.
Who Voted for Flock?
We went looking for the vote in five Cape Fear governments. In the one place elected officials clearly authorized these cameras — Pender County — they did it on the consent agenda, no debate. Everywhere else: a police chief’s signature, a county contract signed by the manager, or a record we weren’t allowed to see.
Seven of Eight Condors Found
Neighbors have now located seven of New Hanover County’s eight hidden Condor cameras — on S. 17th Street, College Road, and two at Ogden Park. See them all on the map, and how to tell a real Condor from a look-alike that is not Flock.
The Pender Sheriff Answered. Here’s What the Records Show.
Sheriff Alan Cutler issued a statement on Pender’s Flock cameras. We reprint it in full and check it against the county’s own invoices and audit — including the FlockOS Advanced software it actually licensed.
North Carolina Flock Misuse Tracker: Officers Charged & Under Investigation
A running record of the NC officers criminally charged with — or under investigation for — misusing the Flock plate-reader network: two charged in eight days, ten more under review in one department. The cases, dates, and sources, updated as they surface. Start here, then follow to each officer’s story.
Caught by the Audit: An NC Officer Used Flock 31 Times to Stalk
A Mooresville, NC officer was arrested Aug 5 for using Flock 31 times to track her boyfriend’s ex — caught by an audit. Ten more officers are now under investigation. The audit is the safeguard that catches this — and it’s the exact record New Hanover blacks out and Wrightsville Beach won’t produce.
“Just a License Plate Reader”? Watch This.
Sheriff McMahon told commissioners it’s just ‘License Plate Reader technology.’ Watch the video — then see the county’s own records: eight live-video cameras, searches for people by description, 2.98 million searches with the searcher hidden.
Three Plate Readers, One Mountain Campus
Western Carolina runs Flock, Rekor, AND a Genetec parking camera set to keep ‘hit’ data 365 days — against NC’s 90-day cap. The school answered candidly under pressure and produced in full; here is what its records show — a genuinely contained deployment.
6,000 or 2.98 Million? Both Numbers Are Right.
WECT reported the Sheriff ran ~6,000 Flock searches; we reported 2.98 million. Not a contradiction — two different Flock audit logs (Organization vs Network), pulled over two different time windows. Here is the difference, plainly.
“Mislabeled”? Then Fix the Labels.
The New Hanover Sheriff’s Office told WECT its Flock ‘traffic infraction’ searches were mislabeled. But the reason code is the agency’s own dropdown choice, the statute has no threshold, four NC agencies show the same pattern — and Flock’s own AI acts on those same labels. A fair answer to the defense every agency will now reach for.
Pender Lined Its Highways With Plate Readers — on Private Land, With a Speed Trailer the Law Won’t Let It Use
Pender County withheld its camera locations, then handed them over in the landowner agreements: plate readers along US-17, US-421, and NC-210, sited on private parcels through seven private deals that skip the permitting process. Plus a radar speed trailer the ALPR law bars for traffic — and a search log where one in eight is coded ‘traffic.’
Durham Calls Its Flock Records a ‘Criminal Investigation.’ Who’s Being Investigated?
A North Carolina police department characterizes its entire Flock log as a criminal investigation to avoid disclosure. If a database built from millions of ordinary drivers is an investigation, who is the suspect? A careful look at the records fight, and where the Fourth Amendment really stands.
The Accountability Clock: What We Asked New Hanover County, and How Long It’s Taking
We filed six public-records requests on the County’s Flock program. One is answered, one came back with the key field redacted, and four are still running. Here is the whole record — what we asked, what the County produced and when, and the field now headed to mediation.
“I Personally No Longer Have Confidence in This Particular Vendor.”
That is a California police chief, not an activist, explaining why he shut off his city’s Flock cameras. A court order, a state audit, a U.S. senator, and the mayors and chiefs who walked away — what Flock said, next to what the records show, with Flock’s own answers.
The Policy Says Only County Employees Can Touch the Data. The Contract Says Flock Can Too.
New Hanover’s ALPR policy promises access is locked to Sheriff’s Office employees. But the Flock contract the county actually signed gives the vendor — a private company — standing rights to access, use, disclose, and train AI on the same plate data, on Flock’s own judgment.
The Sheriff Enrolled New Hanover in a National Surveillance Network
We combined every unredacted Flock audit five North Carolina agencies produced — 3.9 million searches in three months by 3,904 police agencies. About 90% came from outside NC. The FBI is in the logs. Houston, Texas is the single biggest searcher of our cameras. New Hanover runs the same system — and redacted the one field that proves it.
New Hanover Feeds Your Plate to Texas — Where Nothing Stops a Sale
The busiest searcher of New Hanover’s Flock cameras is a police department in Houston, Texas — a state with no plate-reader law at all. When Texas pulls your plate, nothing in Texas stops them from keeping it, sharing it, or selling it.
The Charlotte Officer’s Department Searched the University Across Town 13,733 Times
The SBI charged a Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer for misusing Flock. UNC Charlotte’s own audit shows that same department searched the public campus 13,733 times in three months — inside a network hit over a million times a month, almost all of it out of state.
North Carolina Just Charged an Officer for Misusing Flock
The SBI charged a Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer for an unauthorized Flock search. His department owns no cameras of its own — and the records we hold show it searched other NC agencies’ networks, from a rural campus to a beach town, more than 4,600 times.
The Flock Sharing List New Hanover Won’t Show You
New Hanover redacted who searches its cameras on all 2.98M rows and won’t produce its sharing list. A citizen gave us the same records from a rural county of 21,000 — showing 724 outside agencies, most out of state, plus the FBI, can search its cameras. The document New Hanover refuses is plainly producible.
Carolina Beach Says Its Cameras Are Transparent — Then Turned Off the Comments
The Police Department posted a statement defending its Flock cameras and disabled the comments. Checked against the town’s own records — 3 million searches in a quarter, every agency name redacted, the contract and sharing config withheld — it answers a small question and dodges the real one.
Sheriff McMahon’s Position on Flock — and How He’s Misinformed
The Sheriff told commissioners the system is a limited plate reader. The county’s own records — eight live-video cameras, searches for people by description, and 2.98 million searches with the searching agency hidden — say otherwise. His memo, in full, and our response.
A County Camera Is Watching a Children’s Soccer Field
We found the county’s second hidden Condor — a live pan-tilt-zoom video camera at Veterans Park, pointed at the youth soccer fields, in a complex with three schools and an area that appears to be low-crime. Proof it was never ‘only a plate reader.’
Are Flock Cameras Being Misused in NC? UNC Pembroke’s Audit
156,730 searches of UNC Pembroke’s cameras cite traffic infractions — a use NC law bars — including by NC sheriffs and Georgia agencies whose officers were arrested for Flock abuse. Plus side-door immigration lookups, and Houston, TX PD’s 210,170 searches.
Are Flock Cameras Being Misused in NC? UNC Pembroke’s Audit
156,730 searches of UNC Pembroke’s cameras cite traffic infractions — a use NC law bars — including by NC sheriffs and Georgia agencies whose officers were arrested for Flock abuse. Plus side-door immigration lookups, and Houston, TX PD’s 210,170 searches.
Find the Last Condor
The county bought eight live-video Flock ‘Condor’ cameras and redacts where they are. Neighbors have found seven — two of them at Ogden Park. One is still out there, and finding it is something any resident can do from the public sidewalk.
He Offered to Surveil the Whole City Council
A resident in Casa Grande, Arizona stepped to the podium and pitched a company to track every official and their family — deadpan — then revealed it’s exactly what Flock already does to everyone else. Watch it, read the transcript, and take the script to the podium on August 17.
What the Police Actually See
Not just a license plate. In Flock’s own words, an officer types a plain sentence — “dark SUV with rear bumper damage” — and the network returns matches across thousands of shared cameras, alerts when your car reappears, and, through a newer tool, links a plate to a name. Here is the search screen, described from Flock’s marketing.
They Watch You Without a Warrant
Police can pull a nationwide record of where you drove — instantly, no warrant. To see body-camera footage of your own traffic stop, you must petition a superior court judge. Surveillance flows one way; accountability the other — and you paid for both sides of the mirror.
The Conservative Case Against the Cameras
A standing, warrantless record of every citizen’s movements is the general warrant the Fourth Amendment was written to forbid. Why small government, gun-owner instincts, and fiscal conservatism all point the same direction — and why three commissioners, not Congress, are the remedy.
License Plate Readers Across the UNC System
We sent the same records request to every UNC System university. The answers range from three-day transparency to twenty-five-day stonewalling — and reveal a patchwork of vendors (Flock, Rekor, Genetec, BriefCam), retention rules, and candor. A living, campus-by-campus comparison we update as more schools respond.
Your HOA Signed With Flock. Now What?
Your board put an ALPR camera on your street and won’t show you the contract. North Carolina law gives you more than the board thinks: the right to read the agreement, real ways to push back, and a path to court — with attorney’s fees potentially recoverable — if they refuse.
Your Plate Data Leaves Town
The instant a camera photographs your car, the image is gone from the county. Here is the documented route it travels — county to national pool to the federal side door — and the exact point where the paper trail goes dark. We publish only what the receipts support.
A Town Voted Flock Out — and Still Couldn’t Get the Cameras Down
Verona, Wisconsin ended its Flock contract in November. The cameras kept running into February. Flock objected to the town removing its own equipment, so the town put trash bags over the cameras and waited. What that means for a New Hanover vote.
Searched for People — by Race
Someone used New Hanover’s Flock network to search for people by racial description. Flock blocked the terms; the same searches with the race word removed ran seconds later. The County redacted who did it — and the trail points out of state.
The System Flags Drivers Before Any Officer Suspects Them
Hotlists run a standing search against every passing car, and pattern tools flag vehicles for how they move. This is not theoretical here: New Hanover County’s own audit records 4,955 convoy searches, and Kure Beach’s event log shows 21 custom-hotlist events in a town with four cameras.
Type a Sentence. Search a Person.
Police have used a Flock feature called FreeForm to search for people by clothing, tattoos, race, and political affiliation — across hundreds of cameras. It runs on the Condor cameras New Hanover County bought eight of.
One Neighbor Filed a Complaint
It reached the whole state. The licensing board sent us its Flock file: the cease and desist, the investigation, both court orders, and a judge calling it a threat to public safety.
Fly the Camera, Pay $5,000
North Carolina protects your back yard from a drone — with damages and attorney’s fees. It protects nothing from the same camera on a pole. What § 1983 can and cannot reach.
Five Cameras. Three Million Searches.
Carolina Beach has five plate readers and 6,400 people. In one quarter, outside agencies searched them about three million times — and the Town cannot tell you who.
“You Were in Public” Isn’t the End of It
The strongest legal argument for these cameras, at full strength — then fifteen years of Supreme Court decisions, the cases that cut against us by name, and what actually binds North Carolina.
Macon County Stopped Paying
A North Carolina county commission ended its Sheriff’s Flock program 5–0 — without cancelling his contract. It declined to fund it. New Hanover’s board holds the same lever over $219,000.
Don’t Laser the Cameras
A video with 12.5 million views is nudging people toward destroying ALPR cameras with a laser, and the comments are arriving under our own posts. It can blind someone permanently, nobody aiming can know what they’re actually risking, and there is a better, lawful way to get these cameras removed: hold the people who signed the contract accountable.
Yes, Your Phone Tracks You
“The ship has sailed” is the most common reply we get — and the weakest. One invasion of your privacy is not permission for the next. Why the phone in your pocket is an argument for fewer government dragnets, not one more.
One Search, a Thousand Networks
The critics say our huge audit numbers are misleading. They’re right — and the honest version is worse: one broad search sweeps thousands of networks North Carolina opted into, with no warrant shown and no one reading the logs.
Flock’s “Myths & Facts,” Fact-Checked
Flock publishes reassuring one-liners answering privacy concerns. We checked each against the record — the breaches, the audits, the courts — and answered every claim in its own words.
Can You Opt Out of Flock? The Honest Answer
Every car is scanned, with no opt-out — here’s why, what it means for your data, the one place an opt-out is real (HOA cameras), and the only thing that removes the cameras for everyone.
Flock in New Hanover County, by the Numbers
Every key figure — cost, 2.98M searches, camera counts, retention, petition — in one sourced place. The canonical reference to quote from.
Who’s Watching the Watchers?
Georgia keeps arresting officers for abusing Flock cameras — caught almost entirely by audits. NC requires an ALPR audit just once a year, by the agency itself. For drones, social-media mapping, and device tracking, the state requires no audit at all. If it’s happening here, would we ever know?
1.4 Million Searches, 16 Cameras: Inside NC A&T’s Flock Audit
A records request pried loose the Flock audit behind NC A&T’s 16-camera campus system in Greensboro. In three months, 3,487 agencies searched it 1.4 million times — mostly from out of state — while the campus’s own police barely used it.
First Your Plate. Then Your Phone. Then You — Anywhere You Walk.
A defense contractor’s SignalTrace sensor links your phone, watch, AirPods, and car into one tracked ‘electronic fingerprint’ — in Leonardo’s own words. What it means for New Hanover County, and the one question to ask before it arrives.
It’s Not Just Cameras: The Sheriff Bought Software to Map Your Online Life
Records reveal the Sheriff’s Vice unit bought ShadowDragon SocialNet & Horizon — OSINT software that maps your identity, aliases, and network across 500+ online sources — for $13,400 on a no-bid GSA contract.
America at 250: The Search the Founders Fought
The Revolution was partly fought against general warrants — blanket, suspicionless searches. The Fourth Amendment was written to kill them. Flock’s ALPR network revives them on every road in the county.
We Found a Condor Watching a New Neighborhood
A resident located one of the county’s eight hidden Flock ‘Condor’ live-video cameras — on Castle Hayne Road, beside a Habitat for Humanity development on county-donated land. What a Condor is, and how to help find the other seven.
People Are Smashing Flock Cameras. We Don’t Condone It.
A nationwide wave of vandalism against Flock cameras — why it’s the wrong move, why it’s self-defeating, and the boring, lawful path that actually removes cameras.
Three Things in the Flock Contract Nobody Told You
The county’s own contract hides 8 live-video cameras, a nationwide network — and a clause letting commissioners cancel at any time, without cause.
Officers Keep Getting Caught Using Flock to Stalk
At least 27 documented cases (as of July 2026). Our county’s audit redacts every name.
A Texas Deputy Searched 83,000 Cameras for a Woman Who Had an Abortion
Documented, not hypothetical — and New Hanover’s cameras sit on the same nationwide network.
The Norfolk Ruling, Read Honestly
A judge upheld Norfolk’s Flock cameras — for now, with a warning. The appeal lands in our circuit, and Wilmington doesn’t need a court to act.
How Many Flock Cameras Are in New Hanover County?
The county won’t say — but the crowdsourced map already shows at least 62, far more than the ’15’ you’ll still find online.
Flock in Wilmington: How We Got Here
From a quiet $43,750 pilot in 2021 to a 2.98-million-search network — the full timeline, dated and sourced.
The Supreme Court Strengthened the Case Against Flock
In Chatrie v. United States, the Court ruled that tracking your location is a Fourth Amendment search — and rejected the very ‘a company holds it’ excuse police use for ALPR.
How Much Does New Hanover County Pay for Flock?
About $219,000 — five times the 2021 pilot price. The real number, who approved it, and why the old figure online is wrong.
Three Million Searches, Zero Names
Inside 2,980,082 searches of New Hanover County’s Flock network — and the names the Sheriff’s Office redacted.
NAACP Presentation + Slides Now Available
DeFlockILM presented to the Wilmington NAACP — and the slides are now yours to share.
Flock Camera Data Searches by Out-of-State Law Enforcement
Agencies a thousand miles away ran tens of thousands of searches on North Carolina data.
Understanding the Flock Contract in New Hanover County
What the county’s $219,000 contract actually grants Flock — in plain language.
Are Flock Cameras Legal in North Carolina?
Yes — but they’re tightly regulated by statute (G.S. 20-183.30–.33): law-enforcement use only, no traffic enforcement, a 90-day cap, and the data can’t be sold. Plus the two questions ‘it’s legal’ skips: the live-video Condor loophole and whether it was adopted the right way.
Can Police Sell Your License-Plate Data?
No — North Carolina law forbids it outright (‘shall not be sold for any purpose’). The harder question is what the private vendor is allowed to do with it under a worldwide, perpetual license — and where the data travels.
Read the New Hanover County Flock Contract, Line by Line
We obtained the full 82-page contract and read it. Twenty plate readers, eight live-video Condor cameras, $219,000, and a 30-day retention promise with a perpetual-license loophole — with page citations, and why the AI chatbots keep getting it wrong.
Where Wilmington Stands
We read hundreds of local comments, the petition, and the news coverage. Here’s the honest, both-sides picture of how our community feels.
The Real Cost of the Cameras
Reported, sourced examples of what goes wrong when ALPR surveillance is everywhere — breaches, misuse, and the people caught in the middle.
Pack the Room: Speak Out at the County Commission
When your commissioners or council next take up Flock, here is how to sign up to speak, what to say, and why your three minutes matter.
They Want a Camera at Every Entrance to NC
We said the statewide plate-reader provision died in June. It didn’t — it moved into the budget and became law. Our correction, and what actually passed.
No Plate? No Problem: What They Really Capture
Flock builds a searchable ‘fingerprint’ of your car, your bumper stickers, and who you travel with — far more than a license plate.
No, the Cameras Aren’t Reading Your Phone
Separating the rumors from the documented reality — including the microphones that now listen for voices, and whether that’s even legal.
Wilmington’s Other Surveillance Network
Not Flock — and not new. The city has paid for always-listening gunshot microphones since 2011. What they cost, what they hear, and why Durham pulled the plug.
Inside Wilmington’s ‘STING Center’
A records request pulled the police directive for Wilmington’s real-time camera hub, built on a platform called Fusus. What it ties together, what it hides from you, and the questions it leaves open.
Eyes in the Sky: Wilmington’s Police Drone Fleet
WPD retired its helicopter and built a grant-funded drone fleet — thermal cameras, tethered ‘persistent overwatch,’ and a planned ‘drone as first responder.’ What’s confirmed, and the policy no one has published.
When America Saw the Net, It Flinched
Ring’s Super Bowl ad about a lost dog showed the country how its own cameras can scan the street. The backlash made Amazon kill a deal with Flock. The lesson is our whole strategy.
A Camera Watched the Playground
Flock’s cameras near schools and parks were left open online — children’s live feeds included. What every parent should know.
Arrested Because a Camera Got It Wrong
Two NC women — in Fayetteville and Charlotte — handcuffed for crimes a license plate reader pinned on the wrong person.
The County Won’t Say Who’s Searching Our Cameras
Outside agencies searched local cameras with no contract and no warrant — and the county is withholding the names. What are they hiding?
They Denied It. Then They Admitted It.
Ring, the federal pilots, the immigration lookups, 1.6 million out-of-state queries — the same arc every time. A promise you can only check after the harm is not oversight.
Everything Watching Wilmington
Flock isn’t the only camera on the pole. The full inventory — ALPR, Condor live video, the STING Center / Fusus, and ShotSpotter — with vendor, cost, and what each one captures.
You Went to Lowe’s for Paint. The Lot Logged Your Plate.
Lowe’s and Home Depot feed parking-lot cameras to a nationwide police network. And Lowe’s is a North Carolina company.
ALPR in the Courts: The Cases That Will Decide If This Is Constitutional
The flagship Fourth Amendment case, Schmidt v. Norfolk — where a district court sided with the city in January 2026 — is now on appeal in the Fourth Circuit, the court whose rulings bind North Carolina. Sourced, current, and closer to home than you’d think.
The Actual Law: North Carolina’s License Plate Reader Statutes
The full, verbatim text of NC’s ALPR law (§ 20-183.30–.33), in plain language and word for word — and a straight answer on the federal side: there isn’t one.
Follow the Money: The Business Behind the Cameras
Flock is worth $8.4 billion — more than ADT. The only public pure-play ALPR company loses money. Who profits from watching you drive, what they spend lobbying, and why they don’t lobby North Carolina at all.
Which NC Counties Have the Most ALPR Cameras — by Count and Per Person
We mapped every ALPR camera in North Carolina to its county and cross-checked Flock’s own portals. Two charts: the metros lead by count; Dare County and small towns lead per capita.
A Modest Proposal: Just Watch Everyone, Always
Flock only catches the criminals who drive. So strap a 24/7 body camera to every citizen and stream it to the government. It won’t stop crime — but there’d be no unsolved crime. (Satire. Mostly.)
Flock’s Five Best Arguments — and Why They Don’t Hold Up
We took Flock’s top five public claims, stated each fairly, and checked them against independent evidence. Some is real. Most doesn’t survive the data — and none has been shown to work here.
The Surveillance We Were Told Only Happens in China
We’re not more watched than Beijing — we aren’t. But the warrantless vehicle-tracking dragnet running through Wilmington is the authoritarian playbook, minus the warrant.
They’re Tracking Gun Owners and Hunters, Too
A trip to the range, the gun shop, or the game land is enough to land your plate in a searchable government database — no warrant, no crime.
Before Your HOA Installs Flock, Read This
HOAs are Flock’s quietest growth channel. The board signs, the cameras go up on your street, and your dues fund a node in the police network — often before neighbors even know.
The Cameras Don’t Check Your Status. ICE Uses Them Anyway.
Sold to find stolen cars, Flock is also being used to find immigrants — with local police running thousands of searches on ICE’s behalf. A dragnet that logs everyone.
Las cámaras no verifican tu estatus. ICE las usa igual.
Vendida para encontrar autos robados, Flock también se usa para localizar inmigrantes — la policía local hace miles de búsquedas para ICE. Una red que registra a todos.
Do Wilmington Drivers Have a Legal Claim?
NC law bars selling plate data — yet the county’s contract gives Flock a worldwide, perpetual license. Three questions worth exploring.
Could the Cameras Violate the ADA?
For veterans with PTSD and stalking survivors, a tracking network can block access to public services — a good-faith disability-rights question.
Your Privacy Playbook
You can’t switch off the cameras alone — but you can shrink the data trail that makes you trackable. A practical series, with the legal framework and a step-by-step guide.
Spot It. Map It. Stop It.
Practical guides built on the open-source DeFlock project — how to recognize the cameras, map them, check if you’ve been searched, and win.
How to Get Flock Out of Your Town
The full playbook — from spotting cameras to pressuring the Sheriff and commissioners who hold and fund the contract.
How to Spot a Flock Camera
Once you can recognize one, you can’t stop seeing them. A plain field guide.
Map the Cameras Near You
Officials redact the locations. The crowdsourced map is the public’s only honest count.
Has Your Car Been Searched?
How to check the Flock audit logs — the tool that caught an officer’s 179 personal searches.
Wilmington Isn’t Alone
Hillsborough, Pittsboro, Chatham County and Macon County all ended Flock. Wilmington can too.
It’s Not Just Flock
Other vendors sell the same surveillance. Demand rules, not a brand swap.
What Is DeFlock?
The open-source movement mapping the surveillance state — and how you’re part of it.
The Technical Series
Yes, we’re calling it that. A deeper, geekier look under the hood — how the cameras actually work, how to detect them yourself, and an honest take on the “beat the camera” videos making the rounds (including what’s flatly illegal in NC).
How a Flock Camera Actually Works
Solar, LTE, and a cheap Android chip running computer vision. A plain-language teardown of the pipeline — and the security rot inside it.
We Tested the ‘Flock Detector.’ It Found None of the Cameras.
We built and drove the OUI SPY / flock-you RF detector — zero of four-plus cameras we confirmed by eye. Why passive detection got harder, and what actually works.
Build (or Buy) a Flock Detector
The cameras leak Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals — but Flock is closing that window. What a DIY detector can (and can’t) find now.
Map the Cameras Yourself: What to Buy and How
What an $85 scanner can — and increasingly can’t — do to find Flock cameras. The plain-English buyer’s guide, with the honest limits from our field test.
War Driving: Map Every Camera That’s Mapping You
Mapping wireless devices from a moving car — and how well it still works on Flock’s cameras now that they’ve gone quieter.
What’s in the Audit Logs: How to Read a Flock Search Trail
The CSV exports we keep requesting, decoded — every column, the red flags to grep for, and a few lines of Python to crunch three million rows.
How We Counted 3.9 Million Searches — Show Your Work
The full, reproducible pipeline behind our five-agency aggregate: the source files, the SHA-256 fingerprints, ~100 lines of Python, and the deduplicated dataset. Built so any journalist can replicate the findings — or prove us wrong.
The Sticker That Blinds the AI
Benn Jordan’s brilliant 3-million-view breakdown of how to fool the plate-reading AI — and why you must not put it on your car in North Carolina.
‘Illegal License Plate Covers,’ Tested
An entertaining cautionary tale: the anti-camera gadgets are illegal here, they mostly don’t work, and the camera fingerprints your car anyway.
Catch a Stingray with a $20 Hotspot
It’s not just your plate. Build EFF’s open-source ‘Rayhunter’ to detect the fake cell towers that grab your phone’s identity and location.
You’re not a suspect. So stop being tracked like one.
It takes one minute. Add your name — then tell the officials who represent you to take the cameras down.