Flock in New Hanover County, by the Numbers
Every number we cite, in one place, each with its source — so you can quote it with confidence. This is our canonical reference; when a figure appears elsewhere on the site, it traces back to here.
Surveillance debates drown in numbers. Here are the ones that matter for New Hanover County and North Carolina, stated plainly and sourced. Where a range exists, we say why.
New Hanover is one of six Cape Fear counties. For the whole-region roll-up — Brunswick, Pender, Columbus, Onslow, and the beach towns — see Cape Fear Surveillance, by the Numbers.
New Hanover County
One county. Five agencies. 2,196 cameras. The 36-camera Flock contract the commissioners canceled 4–0 on Sept 8, 2026 was the small one. The Sheriff also maps 2,147 private and business cameras to his Axon Fusus network (716 wired for direct live access), Wilmington PD runs a drone program and a real-time camera hub, and three beach towns run 13 more plate readers. And about 3,904 police agencies nationwide can search these cameras — roughly 90% of the searches came from outside North Carolina. (The Sheriff’s network · who’s searching.)
~$219,000
New Hanover County’s Flock contract (#25-0364), over its 24-month term — $119,000 in year one, then $100,000 a year. (Source.)
2,980,082
Searches of the county’s Flock network in about 16 months (Jan 23, 2025–Jun 5, 2026) — with every searching agency and officer redacted. (Source.)
36 = 28 + 8
The Sheriff’s Flock cameras: 28 plate readers + 8 “Condor” pan-tilt-zoom video units (Contract #25-0364) — the Sheriff’s own count after his portal first listed only 19 — plus Axis and other cameras the Office hasn’t identified. The beach towns run their own, below; the crowdsourced DeFlock map shows ~51–62 ALPR cameras across the Wilmington area. (Source.)
2,147 / 716
The Sheriff’s other network. “Connect New Hanover Sheriff” on Axon Fusus maps 2,147 registered private and business cameras and has 716 integrated for direct live-feed access, AI-assisted — far larger than the Flock program, and never put to a public vote. (Source.)
Drones + a hub
Wilmington Police run a drone program and their own real-time camera hub, the STING Center (also Axon Fusus), pulling public and private feeds onto one screen — a separate system from the Sheriff’s, in the same county. (Source.)
3,904 · ~90%
Who can search these cameras. Combining five NC agencies’ unredacted logs: 3,904 police agencies ran 3.9 million searches in three months, about 90% from outside North Carolina, the FBI among them. New Hanover redacts the one field that would prove the same for its cameras. (Source.)
5 · ~3 million
Carolina Beach, a town of ~6,400 inside the county, runs five plate readers (2 Falcon, 1 Falcon Flex, 2 Solar). Its own audit logs ~3 million outside-agency searches in a single quarter. (Source.)
4 · 2.56M
Kure Beach, ~2,400 residents, also inside the county, runs four Flock cameras — searched 2,560,152 times over five months by 3,712 organizations, 92.5% from outside NC. Its own officers ran 816 searches, 275 coded “Traffic Infraction.” (Source.)
4,217
Signatures on the petition to remove Flock. Of the 4,217 on file at the last residency run, 2,343 gave a New Hanover County zip — 57% of those with a usable one; roughly 87% were somewhere in North Carolina. (Sign it.)
30 vs. 90 days
Retention on the county’s data: the Sheriff’s Office keeps it 30 days; North Carolina’s statutory maximum is 90 days (§ 20-183.32). And since Aug. 2026 Flock itself recommends a 7-day default — a number NHC has not adopted. Three different limits — don’t confuse them.
$43,750
The county’s original 2021 Flock pilot (15 cameras) — the outdated figure stale articles still cite. Today’s program is about five times larger. (Source.)
45 days — then produced
Wrightsville Beach, a New Hanover County beach town, produced zero records for 45 days and referred our June 30 request to outside counsel — then released its Flock records on Aug 14, 2026 (four Falcon plate readers, $12,000/yr). The who-searched audits are still outstanding; transparency grade raised F→D. (The full story.)
Where the signers live — residency analysis as of October 21, 2026
By signer zip code, from a 4,217-signature snapshot taken October 21, 2026. The people asking the county to act are the people the county answers to: 2,343 New Hanover residents, and 3,160 (75%) across the five Cape Fear counties these cameras reach. Inside New Hanover, the beach towns show up too: Carolina Beach 54, Kure Beach 10, Wrightsville Beach 13.
Within New Hanover County, the beach towns break out as Carolina Beach 54, Kure Beach 10, and Wrightsville Beach 13 signers (already counted in the New Hanover total above).
Residency analysis last run October 21, 2026, on the 4,217 signatures on file that day (74 gave no usable zip). Counties assigned by signer-provided zip code; zip 28445 (Holly Ridge/Surf City/Topsail) is assigned to Pender; the 10 signers in zip 28466 (Wallace, on the Duplin–Pender line) are counted under “Elsewhere in NC.” We refresh this breakdown periodically, so it can differ slightly from the live signature counter above; the local share has held steady as the total grows.
Across North Carolina & the country
Wider context — not New Hanover County figures. We’re gathering far more statewide data through public-records requests, and will add it here as it comes in.
17
North Carolina communities have removed, rejected, or banned Flock. The Town of Atkinson became the first in the state to ban ALPR cameras outright; eight ended it by public vote — New Hanover County (4–0, Sept 8, 2026), Dare County (unanimous, Sept 1, 2026, the Sheriff’s 14 cameras), Macon County (5–0, July 2026, cameras physically removed), Davidson County (unanimous, Aug 24), Asheville (5–2, Aug 25), plus Chatham County, Hillsborough, and Pittsboro — and eight more stopped or ended it: Greenville, Leland, UNC Wilmington, the Town of Catawba, Rockingham County (ordinance, Sept 8, 2026), the Town of Brevard (proposal withdrawn, Sept 8, 2026), the Reidsville Police Department (cameras dropped, Sept 10, 2026), and Kitty Hawk. It can be done, and across the state it already has. (The full tracker.)
4 — and counting
NC law-enforcement officers criminally charged with misusing Flock/ALPR. A Mooresville PD officer accused of 31 searches to stalk a private citizen (Aug 5, 2026); a Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer charged with improperly accessing the system (late July 2026); former Wrightsville Beach officer Tonya Baker, indicted Sept 8, 2026; and now former Brunswick County lieutenant Daniel Little, indicted Oct 5, 2026 on 18 counts — the first Cape Fear prosecution, and the first in the state to carry felony government-computer charges. The Mooresville and Charlotte officers were charged under the computer-trespass statute (§ 14-454); Baker was charged under the ALPR-specific statute, N.C.G.S. § 20-183.31(b) — North Carolina’s first prosecution under the ALPR law itself (the indictment). A Mooresville audit of 10 more officers closed Aug 10 with no additional charges, but found “several policy violations” sent to a personnel review the public can’t see. A running count — we add cases as they surface. Charges are accusations; each officer is presumed innocent. (The full NC misuse tracker →)
~2,819
ALPR cameras mapped across North Carolina (about 85% Flock), per the crowdsourced DeFlock map — a documented minimum, not a certified total. (Source.)
1,390,776
Searches of NC A&T’s 16-camera campus network in Greensboro over three months (Mar–May 2026) by 3,487 agencies — mostly out of state. (Source.)
53+
U.S. cities that have moved to cancel or suspend Flock contracts over unauthorized federal or data-sharing access, as of late June 2026. (Source.)
The numbers that get quoted — and misquoted
Figures from the national record that appear across our pages. Stated once here, with sources, so they stay consistent everywhere else.
176
Flock cameras in Norfolk, Virginia as of the January 2026 ruling in Schmidt v. Norfolk (172 at the 2024 filing) — the Fourth Amendment case in which a district court granted summary judgment for the city in January 2026, now on appeal in the Fourth Circuit, which covers North Carolina. (Source.)
164 / 228
Times a Sedgwick, Kansas police chief used Flock to search for his ex-girlfriend over four months in 2023 — 164 for her, 228 counting her new boyfriend. (Source.)
at least 27
Documented cases (as of July 2026) of law-enforcement personnel misusing ALPR systems to track people for personal reasons — 21 catalogued by the Institute for Justice through June 30, at least 6 more reported in the two weeks since (5 Georgia officers, 1 in Milwaukee). (Source.)
83,345 / ~109,000
83,345 Flock cameras across ~6,809 networks nationwide (Flock’s May 2025 figure); the crowdsourced DeFlock map catalogs ~109,000 ALPR cameras from all vendors. Different scopes — don’t merge them.
Eight North Carolina communities have already ended Flock by public vote. The most recent: New Hanover County’s commissioners voted 4–0 on September 8, 2026 to cancel the county’s contract. A week earlier, Dare County’s commissioners voted unanimously on September 1, 2026 to remove the Sheriff’s 14 cameras. A week earlier, Davidson County’s commissioners voted unanimously on August 24, 2026 to remove theirs, and the next day Asheville’s City Council voted 5–2 to cancel its contract. Earlier, Macon County’s commissioners voted 5–0 in July 2026 to defund the program and physically remove the cameras. Chatham County and the towns of Hillsborough and Pittsboro have also ended their programs. And some communities stopped Flock before it started: on August 28, 2026, the City of Greenville dropped its planned 10-camera Flock purchase after public outcry — a win that never had to become a fight — and on September 8, 2026, Rockingham County adopted an ordinance requiring board approval and a public hearing before any ALPR can be installed, stopping it before it starts — and that same day, the Town of Brevard’s police chief withdrew a proposed three-camera Axon ALPR system after residents objected. The full statewide picture — canceled, contested, and active — lives on our NC tracker.
Sources
- DeFlockILM analyses: the 2.98M-search audit · the cost · the camera count · NC cameras by county · NC A&T’s audit. Every figure traces to public records or the crowdsourced DeFlock map, cited on each page.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-183.30–.33 (retention/disclosure). New Hanover County contract #25-0364 (on file).
The petition count updates automatically; other figures are updated as the record changes. General information for public discussion, not legal advice.
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