They Denied It. Then They Admitted It.

This page is not about any one scandal. It’s about a pattern. When a vendor tells New Hanover County “the system can’t do that,” or “federal agencies don’t have access,” or “our policy prohibits it,” the honest question is: how did that promise hold up everywhere else? The answer, documented below, is that it kept breaking — and the public only found out afterward, through leaked logs, audits, and lawsuits. A promise that can only be checked after the damage is done is not oversight. It’s a press release.

Amazon said Ring footage would never feed a police network. Then came the Super Bowl.

For years, Ring insisted its doorbell cameras were about neighborly convenience, not a surveillance grid. Then, during the 2026 Super Bowl, an ad previewed a coming integration that would let Ring footage flow into Flock’s network. The public reaction was immediate and bipartisan — and Amazon canceled the planned integration, saying it “would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,” and noting “the integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.” The capability was real and in motion; only the backlash stopped it. (The full story.)

Flock said federal agencies weren’t tapping local cameras. An audit found a hidden pilot.

Flock’s public line was that it doesn’t run immigration surveillance. Then the records came out. A state audit in Illinois found that Flock had let U.S. Customs and Border Protection access Illinois cameras through an undisclosed pilot program. Under pressure, the company acknowledged in August 2025 that it had run pilots with federal agencies — NCIS, Homeland Security Investigations, and CBP — and announced it would stop conducting federal pilots altogether. The pilots were real. The disclosure came only after they were caught. (Immigration Policy Tracking Project; TechTimes)

“Our policy prohibits it.” More than 4,000 immigration lookups ran anyway.

Flock’s written policy bars using its system for immigration enforcement. Yet reporters at 404 Media obtained search logs showing officers nationwide ran lookups with reasons typed in like “immigration,” “ICE,” and “ICE WARRANT” — more than 4,000 of them, at the federal government’s request, through local and state police acting as the point of access. A policy on paper did not stop a single one. (How this reaches New Hanover County.)

“Trust us with the data.” Then 1.6 million out-of-state queries surfaced in one city.

In February 2026, a class action filed in San Francisco Superior Court alleged that out-of-state and federal agencies queried San Francisco’s Flock cameras more than 1.6 million times in about seven months — in a state whose ALPR privacy law flatly prohibits sharing that data with federal agencies without case-by-case authorization. The suit seeks $2,500 per violation. Whatever its outcome, the number is the point: a system sold as local, and promised to be walled off, was queried more than a million times from outside. (SFist; KTVU)

Fifty-three cities didn’t wait for the next admission.

By late June 2026, as Flock crossed 100,000 cameras nationwide, at least 53 cities had moved to cancel or suspend their contracts over the unauthorized federal data access — and independent trackers put the number higher. These aren’t ideological outliers. They’re councils that read the same records you’re reading now and decided a promise that keeps breaking isn’t worth the risk. (TechTimes; NPR)

Why this lands here

New Hanover County is being asked for the same trust that failed everywhere above. And locally, the county already holds the records that would prove or disprove its assurances — the logs of who searched our cameras — and it has redacted the name of every searching agency and officer. Nearly three million searches, names blacked out. When a vendor’s promises have this track record, and your own government won’t show you the receipts, “trust us” is not enough. Verification is the whole job. (The county won’t say who’s searching.)

A promise you can only check after the harm is done is not oversight. Ask for the receipts before the cameras go up — not after.

What you can do

• Sign the petition to remove Flock cameras from Wilmington and New Hanover County.
• Email your commissioners one question: what independent audit — not a vendor promise — proves our cameras aren’t searched from outside the county?
• Demand the receipts — unredacted audit logs, a warrant requirement, and an end to nationwide sharing — or cancel the contract.

Sources

• TechTimes — “Flock Safety Crosses 100,000 Cameras as 53 Cities Cancel Over Unauthorized Federal Data Access” (June 29, 2026)
• Immigration Policy Tracking Project — ICE access to Flock ALPR via local police / undisclosed federal pilots
• 404 Media — “ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows”
• SFist — SFPD Flock cameras accessed by outside agencies 1.6 million times (class action)
• KTVU — class action alleges Flock violates California privacy law
• NPR — “Why some cities are canceling Flock license plate reader contracts”