Three Things in the Flock Contract Nobody Told You

We have read every page of Contract #25-0364 — the agreement the Sheriff’s Office signed with Flock Safety on January 29, 2025, obtained through our public-records request. Three things in it have never been said out loud at a public meeting.

1. The county bought video cameras, not just plate readers.

The order form doesn’t stop at twenty license plate readers (17 Falcons, 3 long-range Solar Falcons). It includes eight Solar Condor PTZ cameras — Flock’s live-video product — with a $750 implementation fee billed for each. Flock’s own brochure, attached to the contract, describes what the county purchased: “high-resolution live and recorded footage, coupled with AI enhancements,” with “Visual Alerts” that “identify and match suspect vehicles across your entire camera network.” This is not plate reading. It is live, recorded, AI-analyzed video, paid for with your money — and to our knowledge, no official has ever mentioned it publicly.

A correction, because we owe you the same honesty we demand: our FAQ previously said no Condor cameras were deployed here as far as we knew. Our own posted contract contradicts that. We’ve corrected the FAQ. The contract proves the county bought them; it doesn’t say where they are — and when the Sheriff’s Office released its plate-reader records, it redacted the camera locations, so the public may never be told where the Condors sit either. That secrecy is part of the problem. The questions the county can’t hide behind a location redaction are the ones that matter: what do the Condors record, how long is the video kept, and who can watch it? The Special Terms also list a “Custom Subscription: Fusus API Integration” — meaning the Sheriff’s Flock system is wired into the same Fusus platform that runs Wilmington PD’s STING Center. The plate readers, the video cameras, and the city’s real-time camera network are one connected system.

2. Commissioners can cancel it tomorrow. Without cause. Without penalty.

Paragraph 29 of the county’s own addendum: “County may terminate this Contract for convenience at any time and without cause.” There is also a non-appropriation clause — if commissioners simply decline to fund it in any budget year, the contract ends with thirty days’ notice and no penalty. Left alone, the agreement auto-renews for another 24-month term unless someone gives 30 days’ notice. So when an official says their hands are tied, read the contract back to them. Nothing keeps these cameras up except the decision to keep them. Hillsborough ended its contract early. Pittsboro ended its contract early. New Hanover County can too — any day it chooses.

3. “Local cameras” joined a nationwide network on day one.

The included FlockOS package isn’t a set of county cameras; it’s a membership. The contract grants “Nationwide Network” lookup — Flock advertises “10 billion additional plate reads per month” — plus access to privately owned cameras in “neighborhoods, schools, and businesses,” unlimited users, and unlimited custom hot lists that alert whenever a targeted plate passes any camera. This is why our audit records show out-of-state agencies searching local data: the network was the product. The county didn’t buy twenty cameras. It bought Wilmington’s entry into a national surveillance system — and it can exit the same way it entered: with a signature.

Your move

Ask your commissioners two questions at the August 17 meeting: Where are the eight video cameras? And since the contract lets you cancel at any time without cause — why haven’t you? Email your leaders.

Source: Contract #25-0364, order form and Master Services Agreement (pp. 1–3), county addendum ¶29, FlockOS feature schedule, and Condor product brief — all in our public-records library.