We Found a Condor. Seven to Go.
The county’s contract includes eight Flock ‘Condor’ cameras — live-video units that pan, tilt, and zoom, not plate readers. The county redacts where they are. So a resident went and found one.
New Hanover County’s Flock contract doesn’t just buy plate readers. Buried in the Sheriff’s January 2025 order form are eight “Solar Condor PTZ” cameras — live-video units that pan, tilt, and zoom, and can lock onto and follow a person or vehicle. The county has never said where they are; it redacts the locations. So one of us went looking. Here’s the first.
What you’re looking at
That white-and-black dome under the solar panel is not a license-plate reader. It’s a Condor — a networked, always-on video camera that can zoom in on faces, read what’s on your shirt, and track movement in real time. It is the same category of live-video Flock camera that, elsewhere in the country, was found sitting open on the internet — including one streaming a children’s playground. The plate readers photograph your car. A Condor watches you.
Where this one is — and what it’s pointed at
This Condor stands on Castle Hayne Road (NC 133), and it is aimed toward the road. It sits directly beside Haven Place — a 35-home Habitat for Humanity neighborhood, currently under construction, on land donated by New Hanover County. Sit with that for a second: the same county that donated land so working families could own a first home has a county-run video camera parked at the edge of that neighborhood, watching who comes and goes. We report it without embellishment. The picture makes the point. (Approximate location on the map.)
The other seven are out there. Help us find them.
Eight Condors were ordered; this is one. The county won’t tell us where the rest are — which means the only way the public gets an honest map is the way we got this one: neighbors, on foot, documenting what’s on their own streets. If you’ve noticed a solar panel and a dark dome on a tall black pole — near a school, a park, a busy road, a neighborhood entrance — that may be one of them. Photograph it from the public sidewalk or roadside (never trespass), note what it’s aimed at, and put it on the map.
How to report a camera with the DeFlock app
This is exactly what our founder did to log this one. It takes a few minutes:
- Download the free DeFlock app — “DeFlock.me” on the App Store or Google Play. It maps cameras through OpenStreetMap, so your find becomes public for everyone.
- Make a free OpenStreetMap account at openstreetmap.org. The app signs in with it (once) to publish your report.
- Stand near the camera and open the app. It shows cameras already mapped nearby, so you can see if yours is new.
- Add a point at the pole, and drag the pin to the exact spot.
- Pick the vendor — Flock Safety — and the type. For a Condor, that’s a PTZ / video camera (as opposed to an ALPR plate reader). Set the direction it faces and the operator (here, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office).
- Review the queue and upload. It publishes to OpenStreetMap and shows up on maps.deflock.org for everyone. Done.
Prefer not to use the app? You can submit a camera straight from the web at deflock.org/report, or follow the official DeFlock mobile guide. And if hunting them by their wireless signal is more your speed, we wrote a whole guide to mapping the cameras yourself.
Go see it for yourself
There’s something clarifying about standing under one. Drive out Castle Hayne Road to the Haven Place development and look for the solar panel and the dark dome on the tall black pole at the edge of the field. Bring your phone. Photograph it from the public right-of-way. Then ask the question the county still hasn’t answered: who is watching this feed, and why is it here?
Related
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.