Surveillance in the Cape Fear, by the Numbers
Every number we cite for the region, in one place, each with its source — so you can quote it with confidence. New Hanover just canceled the Sheriff’s Flock contract; five counties around it are still recording. This is the canonical regional reference, and each county has its own deep-dive, linked below.
Surveillance debates drown in numbers. Here are the ones that matter for the Cape Fear — New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, Columbus, and Onslow counties, plus the three beach towns inside New Hanover — stated plainly and sourced. Every figure traces to a public record or to the county page it links to. For the New Hanover deep-dive, see New Hanover County, by the Numbers.
Five counties. One just won. On September 8, 2026 New Hanover’s commissioners voted 4–0 to cancel the Sheriff’s 36-camera Flock contract. But the win didn’t empty the region: the three beach towns inside the county keep 13 plate readers, the Sheriff’s 2,147-camera Axon Fusus network was never on the ballot, and across the four surrounding counties at least 34 more fixed readers keep recording — searchable by thousands of agencies, most from outside North Carolina. (who’s searching.)
County by county
Each county has its own page with the records behind these figures. Tap through for the full account.
New Hanover — 4–0
Canceled. Commissioners ended the Sheriff’s 36-camera Flock contract on Sept 8, 2026. What remains: a 2,147-camera Fusus network (716 wired for live access), Wilmington PD’s drones and STING Center, and 13 beach-town readers. The Flock network was searched 2,980,082 times; the county’s own outcomes log shows 43 arrests and zero drug seizures. (New Hanover · the numbers.)
Brunswick — 8
8 Flock Falcon cameras, $53,200. Since 2023 the network was searched at least 83,232 times, 90% with no case number. One county employee resigned amid an SBI review of misuse. 30-day retention. (Brunswick County →)
Pender — 8 + 1
Eight fixed Flock cameras, a ninth, and a mobile unit, $70,600. Outside agencies searched Pender’s cameras 2,101,548 times in three months — none of them the local sheriff — across 1,055 partner networks, with the searching agency redacted on every row. (Pender County →)
Columbus — 6 → 5
Six Flock cameras, now five (one stolen in Tabor City). The system captured 6.8 million plates in about seven months. Retention is set to 90 days — the statutory maximum — and the county has not released a Network Audit showing who searched. (Columbus County →)
Onslow — 12
12 PlateRanger readers countywide — the vendor here is PlateRanger, not Flock, and there are zero Flock cameras in the City of Jacksonville. 30-day retention when a plate hits no hotlist. (Onslow County →)
Beach towns — 13
Inside New Hanover, three beach towns keep their own readers even after the county’s cancellation: Carolina Beach (5), Kure Beach (4), and Wrightsville Beach (4). Kure Beach — population ~2,400 — was searched 2,560,152 times in five months. (Carolina Beach · Kure Beach · Wrightsville Beach.)
The region, added up
47
Fixed plate readers still recording across the Cape Fear after New Hanover’s win — 13 in the beach towns, 8 in Brunswick, 9 in Pender, 5 in Columbus, 12 in Onslow. New Hanover’s 36 Sheriff cameras are being removed; the region’s other readers are not.
2,147 / 716
The camera network no one voted on. “Connect New Hanover Sheriff” on Axon Fusus maps 2,147 registered private and business cameras and has 716 integrated for direct live-feed access — far larger than the Flock program the commissioners just canceled. (Source.)
3,964
Signatures on the petition to end ALPR surveillance in the Cape Fear. Of the 3,962 in the last residency run, 2,870 — 74% — live in the three counties these cameras cover. (Sign it.)
Where the Cape Fear petition’s signers live — residency analysis as of September 13, 2026
By signer zip code of the Cape Fear petition, from a 3,962-signature snapshot taken September 13, 2026. (A statewide North Carolina breakdown will follow as that petition grows.) The people asking their counties to act are the people those counties answer to: 2,971 (75%) across the five Cape Fear counties these cameras reach. Inside New Hanover, the beach towns show up too: Carolina Beach 51, Kure Beach 10, Wrightsville Beach 12.
Residency analysis last run September 13, 2026, on the 3,962 signatures on file that day (63 gave no usable zip). Counties assigned by signer-provided zip code; zip 28445 (Holly Ridge/Surf City/Topsail) is assigned to Pender; the signers in zip 28466 (Wallace, on the Duplin–Pender line) are counted under “Elsewhere in NC.” We refresh this breakdown periodically, so it can differ slightly from the live signature counter above.
Across North Carolina
Wider context — the Cape Fear is not acting alone.
16
North Carolina communities have removed or rejected Flock — by public vote, by ordinance, or by stopping it before it started — New Hanover County among them (4–0, Sept 8, 2026). It can be done, and it has been, fifteen times. (The full tracker →)
3 — and counting
NC law-enforcement officers criminally charged with misusing Flock/ALPR, including former Wrightsville Beach officer Tonya Baker — indicted Sept 8, 2026 under the ALPR statute itself, North Carolina’s first such prosecution. Charges are accusations; each officer is presumed innocent. (The NC misuse tracker →)
~2,819
ALPR cameras mapped across North Carolina (about 85% Flock), per the crowdsourced DeFlock map — a documented minimum, not a certified total. (Source.)
Sources
- County pages, each sourced to public records: New Hanover · Brunswick · Pender · Columbus · Onslow. New Hanover detail: New Hanover, by the Numbers.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-183.30–.33 (ALPR retention, use, and disclosure). Contracts and audit logs on file for each county.
The petition count updates automatically; other figures are updated as the record changes. General information for public discussion, not legal advice.
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