New Here? Start Here.
Just heard about Flock cameras and not sure what to think? Good — you’re exactly who this page is for. Here’s what’s happening in New Hanover County, why it matters, and the one thing that makes a difference. No jargon. No pressure. Just the facts and a clear next step.
What’s actually happening here
The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office runs a network of Flock cameras — automated license plate readers that photograph every passing car and log its plate, location, time, make, model, color, and features like bumper stickers. It’s collected on everyone, with no warrant and no way to opt out. The county pays about $219,000 for it (Contract #25-0364), and its own records show the system was searched nearly three million times in about 16 months — with the name of every searching agency and officer redacted. No one voted these cameras in at a public hearing. The county signed the contract at the Sheriff’s request.
And it isn’t only the county. Three New Hanover municipalities run their own Flock cameras on top of the Sheriff’s network: Carolina Beach operates five readers (about $13,696 a year), Kure Beach runs four, and four in Wrightsville Beach — well over a dozen more cameras across three small beach towns. These are not local, self-contained systems. The records Carolina Beach and Kure Beach produced show their cameras feed a nationwide surveillance network reachable by police agencies across the country: Carolina Beach’s sharing is set to “Within Nationwide,” and in a single quarter its five cameras were searched about three million times and Kure Beach’s four 2.56 million times over five months — overwhelmingly by outside agencies, many of them out of state. Wrightsville Beach was sent the same request and, after a 45-day holdout, produced on Aug 14 — confirming four Falcon readers at $12,000/year, though it still withholds the audit logs naming who searches them. (Every figure, sourced.)
This isn’t a fringe worry. It’s a bipartisan concern about warrantless tracking, and it’s why residents across the county — and dozens of cities nationwide — are pushing to shut it down. And to be fair to the other side: police say the cameras help solve crimes, and sometimes they do. The real question isn’t whether the tool is ever useful — it’s whether a system this powerful should run with no warrant, no public vote, and no way to see who’s using it.
Past 3,000. From about 1,200 in the spring to 3,126 today — and 324 in the last seven days alone. 1,797 of them live in New Hanover County: the people the commissioners answer to.
The Five-Minute Briefing
If you read nothing else, read these. They’re short, sourced, and cover the whole picture.
What Flock Cameras Can Actually Do
Cut through the rumors: what these cameras really capture, what they don’t, and the microphones people keep asking about.
Who’s Searching Our Cameras? The County Won’t Say.
Outside agencies have searched local cameras with no warrant — and the county is redacting every name. This is the heart of it.
What New Hanover County Pays
About $219,000, under a contract the county can cancel at any time. Where the number comes from, and what it buys.
Everything Watching Wilmington
Flock isn’t the only system on the pole. The complete inventory — ALPR, live video, the STING Center, and ShotSpotter.
The Roadmap to Removal
There’s an honest path to getting the cameras out — who decides, what moves it, and the finish line. Read this and you’ll know exactly what to do.
And see how New Hanover ranks among all North Carolina counties for ALPR cameras →
Do This Today
You don’t have to become an activist. You have to do one thing — and it takes a minute.
Show up Aug 17
The commissioners meet Monday, August 17 at 4:00 PM. Bring one neighbor.
The turnout kitYou’re not a suspect. So stop being tracked like one.
It takes one minute. Add your name, then tell your county commissioners to cancel the Flock contract.