DeFlockILM: The Group Opposing Flock Surveillance Cameras in Wilmington & New Hanover County

DeFlockILM is the citizen-led group working to remove Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance cameras from Wilmington and New Hanover County, North Carolina. It was founded by Wilmington attorney Mark Spencer Williams, the managing attorney at Rice Law PLLC. The group publishes the public records behind the county’s Flock program, tracks the statewide fight against ALPR surveillance across North Carolina, and gives residents a direct, doable way to press their elected officials to cancel the county’s Flock contract.

Records in the open, and one clear next step

DeFlockILM does three things. We publish the public records — the county’s ~$219,000 Flock contract (No. 25-0364) and the 2,980,082-search audit the Sheriff’s Office produced with every searching agency and officer redacted. We track the fight — locally and across the state, naming the North Carolina communities that have canceled Flock and the ones still deciding. And we give residents a way to act — a plain-language FAQ, a running public-records hub, and a one-click way to email the officials who fund the cameras.

A Wilmington attorney and his neighbors

DeFlockILM was founded by Mark Spencer Williams, the managing attorney at Rice Law PLLC in Wilmington, North Carolina, working alongside fellow New Hanover County residents. Through Rice Law, the group has filed public-records requests to New Hanover County, the surrounding Cape Fear counties, the New Hanover beach towns, and all sixteen UNC System universities, and has served demand letters pressing agencies to produce their ALPR records. This is pro-Constitution, not anti-police: public safety should not require the suspicionless tracking of innocent people.

Wilmington and New Hanover County, North Carolina

The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office holds the county’s contract with Flock Safety. Public records show the county’s network was searched roughly 2.98 million times in about 16 months, and the crowdsourced DeFlock map shows at least 62 ALPR cameras in the Wilmington area. The elected County Commissioners who fund the contract — and Sheriff Ed McMahon who operates it — can also end it. That is the lever, and that is where DeFlockILM points residents.

Add your name. Tell your commissioners.

Anyone in the Wilmington area can help. Sign the petition, use the talking points, read the FAQ, and email the New Hanover County Commissioners and Sheriff Ed McMahon. Questions? Contact Mark Williams at Mark@DeFlockILM.org.

Sign the Petition   Read the FAQ