The North Carolina Communities That Said No to Flock
The list keeps growing. Sixteen North Carolina towns and counties have now removed, rejected, or preemptively barred Flock’s automated license-plate surveillance — eight cancelled it by public vote, seven stopped or headed it off before it took hold. On September 8, 2026, New Hanover County joined them, its commissioners voting 4–0 to cancel the county’s contract; two days later, the Reidsville Police Department dropped its cameras too.
Cancelled Flock — by public vote
- ✓Dare County (Outer Banks) — unanimous, Sept 1, 2026; the Sheriff’s 14 cameras come down.
- ✓Macon County — 5–0, July 15, 2026, over the Sheriff’s objection; cameras removed.
- ✓Davidson County — unanimous, Aug 24, 2026.
- ✓Asheville — 5–2, Aug 25, 2026; contract terminated.
- ✓Chatham County — April 2026.
- ✓Hillsborough — October 2025.
- ✓Pittsboro — May 2026 (after rejecting a “keep it with guardrails” compromise first).
- ✓New Hanover County — unanimous, 4–0, Sept 8, 2026; the Sheriff’s $219,000 contract terminated.
Stopped it short
- ✓Greenville — dropped a planned 10-camera purchase after public outcry (Aug 2026).
- ✓Leland (Brunswick Co.) — pitched a $180,700 system; the Town confirms it never adopted one.
- ✓UNC Wilmington — confirmed on the record it runs no Flock cameras.
- ✓Town of Catawba — after a 60-day trial, the Town Council denied the police funding request (even $3,000 for one camera); the cameras are being removed. Its own chief wanted them; the council said no anyway. (Hickory Daily Record)
- ✓Brevard / Transylvania County — the police chief withdrew her request for three Axon ALPRs after community pushback (Sept 8, 2026).
- ✓Reidsville (Rockingham Co.) — the Police Department ceased use of its Flock cameras and will not renew (Sept 10, 2026).
- ✓Kitty Hawk (Dare Co.) — the Police Department wound down its plate-reader program; the last camera was shut off in August 2026 and the chief is not restarting it (Sept 8, 2026).
- ✓Rockingham County — a unanimous guardrails ordinance requiring commissioner approval and public comment before any ALPR (Sept 8, 2026).
These aren’t fringe towns. A Democrat-led council, Republican-led boards, a university, and a police chief’s own community — across the political map — looked at the same technology and declined it. Every one of them used a power New Hanover’s Board also holds: decline to fund it.
New Hanover finally acted
For months the county at the center of the state’s biggest Flock story — 2.98 million searches, every searching agency redacted — took no action while residents packed meetings and the petition passed 3,900 signatures. Then, on September 8, 2026, the Board of Commissioners voted 4–0 to cancel the county’s Flock contract. New Hanover joined the list.
But Flock was only the most visible system. The Sheriff’s 2,147-camera Fusus network, its Clearview facial recognition, and a signed multi-state data-sharing pact were never on that ballot — and only the Board and the Sheriff can end them. Here’s what still stands.
You’re not a suspect. So stop being tracked like one.
It takes one minute. Add your name — then tell the officials who represent you to take the cameras down.