Flock Cameras in Pender County, NC

Residents of Pender County among the signers of the petition at change.org/DeFlockILM, as of Sept. 12, 2026.

The Pender County Sheriff’s Office, under Sheriff Alan Cutler, leases eight fixed Flock Safety ALPR cameras and one mobile ALPR unit. The county’s own purchase order (#451, $70,600) describes the whole package, simply, as “Flock Cameras” — and the Board of Commissioners authorized it on a consent agenda (January 21, 2025, Item 8.6), not a standalone, debated vote. Here is what the records show, and what the Sheriff still won’t.

Pender County by the numbers

The cameras, on the map

Live map of ALPR cameras across Pender County, from the crowdsourced DeFlock map.

What the record shows

Cameras on private land the Sheriff won’t map. Pender withheld its camera-location map — but its own production handed over seven landowner agreements that name the sites. The Sheriff put plate readers on private property along the county’s arterials — the roads you have to use — plus a speed trailer. The locations aren’t random; they trace the chokepoints. (The full reconstruction.)

A use North Carolina law bars, in the Sheriff’s own numbers. In Pender’s audit, 13.7% of the Sheriff’s own searches are coded “Traffic Infraction” — a purpose § 20-183.31(b) forbids for ALPR data. That is the department’s own use, not an out-of-state agency’s.

The Sheriff answered — but the records answer back. Sheriff Alan Cutler issued a public statement on the county’s Flock cameras. We reprinted it in full and held each claim against the documents; on the question of who else can search Pender’s cameras, the statement is silent, and the records are not. (Read the statement, checked line by line.)

Update — Sept 11, 2026: Pender produced the Network Audit — and the number is staggering. After a second notice and a litigation-hold demand, the County (Attorney Quinton Morgan) produced the June–August Network Audits in native CSV, cooperatively and ahead of deadline. This is the record of searches of Pender’s cameras run from outside the Sheriff’s Office — and there were 2,101,548 of them in three months. Every one was run by an agency other than the Pender Sheriff — but which agencies, the county will not say: it redacted the searching-agency name on every row. (Pender’s own office ran only about 2,526 searches in six months, in a separate log.) Outsiders reach these eight cameras through the county’s 1,055 partner networks. The production also conceded the search-ID field and confirmed no federal data-sharing MOU. And 83,346 of those searches are coded “Traffic Infraction,” a use § 20-183.31(b) bars for ALPR data.

One more question the records raise. In the portal’s own public search audit, the Sheriff’s Office’s searches stop abruptly on September 10, 2026 — with no explanation offered. We’re watching to see whether, and when, its use of the system resumes.

The full record

• Pender’s Flock cameras — the locations, the speed trailer, and the seven landowner deals.
• The Sheriff’s statement — checked against the records.
• Brunswick, New Hanover, Columbus, and Onslow — the neighboring county networks.
• The records hub — where every Cape Fear agency stands.

What you can do

Only the Pender County Board of Commissioners and the Sheriff can end this program. Tell them, on the record, to take the cameras down — and to release the audit logs so the public can see who has been searching them.

Sign the petition   Email the Board & Sheriff   Email your leaders