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Macon County, NC removes Flock Cameras
In the best bit of recent news in the state, Macon County has voted unanimously to remove their Flock Surveillance Cameras. According to WLOS, the vote followed hours of public comment and debate on the issue. All 12 cameras the county was using will be removed immediately. This was against the wishes of the Sheriff’s department.
CMPD officer arrested over Flock and other database abuses.
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer has been arrested and according to the warrant, “did without authorization access a computer and queried a North Carolina License Plate Registration through Flock Safety Inc. and CJ Leads.”
People often talk about how departments with Flock Surveillance camera contracts are the only departments that can abuse the systems but this case shows us something different. The officer in question was an employee of CMPD, which doesn't have cameras themselves. They have understandings with other departments to be able to search their cameras.
Read more on the the Wilmington focused DeFlock ILM website.
https://deflockilm.org/charlotte-mecklenburg-flock-charge/
Two different town hall meetings, one before the deployment of Flock Surveillance cameras and one after.
Granville County Sheriff holds a town hall meeting before making a decision on the potential implementation of Flock deployment.
Granville County Sheriff Robert Fountain held a town hall meeting open to the public on July 20 to hear concerns from citizens about the potential deployment of Flock Surveillance cameras in Granville County. Members of the public were about 70% against, 20% unsure, and 10% in favor of the camera deployments. By the end, I believe even more left the meeting against the cameras.
Sheriff Fountain invited members of the public to speak, one Lieutenant to speak on his experience using the trial access of the Flock system, and a Flock sales representative responsible for Eastern North Carolina. The meeting went well; however, in my mind, the Flock representative knew all the “right answers” to questions that benefit Flock but didn’t know a single question that could break the facade that Flock has been putting up. “If Flock isn’t surveillance, why do their patents say surveillance?” “If there’s no identifiable information being tracked, why do marketing materials state they’re used to track criminals? How are we able to track people without identifying them?” A whole lot of “I don’t know.”
After the meeting, I believe Sheriff Fountain will do the right thing and not install the cameras in the county. However, there is still pressure to install these cameras. If you are in the county or travel through the county, please contact Sheriff Fountain and respectfully let him know your opposition to these cameras.
sheriff.fountain@granvillecounty.org
Lenoir County Sheriff holds town hall on Flock cameras
The Lenoir County Sheriff held a town hall this week to hear concerns from citizens over the lack of transparency related to the addition and operation of Flock Surveillance cameras in Lenoir County. He acknowledged there was a lack of transparency in implementing the cameras and acknowledged that even if there was misuse, there’d likely be a lack of transparency unless the officer was criminally charged.
Contrast this attempted transparency after the fact with the transparency before any potential deployment. One is asking the community before any action and one is asking forgiveness after the deployment, and the payment, has been made.
Read and watch about the Lenoir town hall meeting here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC_lVx6mjuI
Did I miss something? I’m sure I did. Feel free to send in new stories, share stories on social media where I will see them, and share with your friends! It may take a county by county effort in North Carolina but we will eventually get rid of Flock Surveillance and other ALPRs in North Carolina!
Ryan Brown
Sources:
- https://wlos.com/news/local/macon-county-north-carolina-wnc-flock-remove-license-plate-reader-cameras-unanimous-vote-privacy-concerns-public-safety-debate-ai-artificial-intelligence-surveillance
- https://deflockilm.org/charlotte-mecklenburg-flock-charge/
- https://www.neusenews.com/index/2026/7/29/rogers-takes-responsibility-for-lack-of-transparency-on-flock-cameras
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC_lVx6mjuI
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