Flock in Wilmington: How We Got Here
How did Wilmington end up under a network logging millions of searches? Here’s the story — dated, sourced, and still being written.
It didn’t happen all at once. New Hanover County’s Flock network grew quietly over four years, from a small pilot into a system searched millions of times. Here’s the timeline, with the receipts.
December 6, 2021 — The Sheriff’s Office brings a $43,750 deal for 15 Flock cameras to the commissioners as a sole-source contract — skipping competitive bidding. It passes on the consent agenda, with no substantive public discussion, justified by Flock’s claim to be the only license-plate system compatible with the county’s Axon body-camera software. (Port City Daily)
December 8–29, 2021 — Within two days, a competing vendor tells commissioners the exclusivity claim isn’t true and asks them to rescind the award and seek bids — noting that Axon holds an undisclosed “minority, non-controlling investment in Flock Safety.” The county’s own finance office agrees that other vendors integrate with Axon, reverses course, and the deal is scrapped and never signed. The county walks away. (Port City Daily)
2022–2025 — Flock ultimately returns. The program takes hold and grows well beyond that first 15-camera plan — with little public notice.
By early 2026 — The county’s Flock contract (No. 25-0364) is now worth roughly $219,000 — about five times the original ask. (The cost breakdown.)
March 11, 2026 — StarNews reports on the plate readers spreading across Wilmington’s roads, and residents’ privacy concerns surface publicly.
February 24, 2026 — DeFlockILM files public-records requests to the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County for the Flock contracts, ALPR policies, and data-sharing agreements.
March 2026 — The City and County produce records: the Flock contract, the Sheriff’s ALPR policy, and Wilmington PD’s Fusus “STING Center” directive. (Read the documents.)
March 23, 2026 — DeFlockILM publishes a plain-language breakdown of the $219,000 contract. (The contract, explained.)
April 21, 2026 — Analysis shows agencies far outside North Carolina ran tens of thousands of searches on local data. (Out-of-state searches.)
April 28, 2026 — DeFlockILM requests the Flock Organization Audit, Network Audit, and Event Log — the agency’s own search records.
May 29, 2026 — DeFlockILM presents to the Wilmington NAACP. (The slides.)
June 1, 2026 — WECT Investigates airs; the New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, and Columbus County Sheriff’s Offices all confirm Flock contracts. (WECT)
June 18, 2026 — The county produces the audit: roughly 2.98 million searches in about 16 months — with the name of every searching agency and officer redacted. (Three million searches, zero names.)
June 19, 2026 — DeFlockILM files a detailed follow-up records request tied to the Sheriff’s own ALPR policy (SOP 222), pressing for the access logs and the identities behind the searches.
June 28, 2026 — The campaign goes statewide: identical ALPR records requests are filed to UNC Wilmington and all 15 other UNC System universities. (The records hub.)
June 29, 2026 — Records requests are filed to the Brunswick and Pender County sheriffs. The U.S. Supreme Court decides Chatrie v. United States, holding that obtaining a person’s location is a Fourth Amendment search. (What Chatrie means for Flock.) DeFlockILM demands the unredacted searcher names from New Hanover County.
July 2, 2026 — DeFlockILM documents two more layers of the local surveillance stack: the Wilmington Police drone fleet (the story) and Greenville’s new 10-camera Flock deployment in Pitt County.
July 3, 2026 — DeFlockILM files a public-records request with the City of Wilmington for the Police Department’s drone (UAS) program — policy, inventory, funding, retention schedule, and flight logs. Update — Sept 2, 2026: the City produced a partial file (the multi-agency SABLE-UAS SOP, a policy, a drone inventory of ~18 active aircraft, and one 2024 FAA COA). The buildout is not only local: the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation standardized statewide on the DJI Matrice 4T thermal drone through its own procurement (IFB #49-204684-BH), a record we’ve mirrored at the Internet Archive. The inventory shows a federal FEMA Port Security Grant (EMW-2024-PU-05533) funding the newest tactical/tethered drones; the flight logs, DFR plans, grant paperwork, and any Fusus/STING integration were withheld, and a deficiency letter followed.
What’s next
- July 1, 2026 — The deadline on House Bill 206, which would make North Carolina’s statewide highway-camera program permanent.
- August 17, 2026 — The New Hanover County Commissioners — who fund the contract — meet, and residents can speak. (How to speak up.)
A surveillance network is built one quiet vote at a time. It can be unwound the same way.
Dates and figures are drawn from public records, local reporting, and DeFlockILM’s own filings, each linked above. This timeline is updated as the story develops. Last updated June 30, 2026.
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