New Hanover County pulls plug on Flock camera contract

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - New Hanover County has terminated its contract for Flock license plate readers after a unanimous 4-0 vote Tuesday.

At the Sept. 8 Board of Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Dane Scalise introduced a motion to cancel the contract. Every commissioner, except for Bill Rivenbark, who joined the meeting virtually and couldn’t vote, approved the cancelation. After returning from a brief closed session period during the special meeting, commissioners voted on the contract.

The decision follows mounting controversy surrounding the surveillance technology.

“They’re not right for New Hanover County right now,” Scalise said after the meeting. “I don’t believe that sufficient guardrails are in place to protect the public from their concerns related to surveillance or civil liberties.”

The cameras have stirred a debate nationwide between security and privacy. Advocates say the cameras help law enforcement find criminals and missing people or vehicles. The cameras have been used in burglaries, missing persons cases and murders, among other types of cases. Critics, though, have argued the cameras are an example of an unconstitutional government overreach, putting privacy at risk.

Commissioners said they wanted to move quickly on the issue after hearing from dozens of speakers, and hundreds more via email, in recent weeks. Commissioners had been looking into the Flock system, which has included meetings with Sheriff Ed McMahon, and sending a detailed list of questions to him.

Ultimately, commissioners cited public input, along with various concerns -- ranging from national sharing, to the number of searches of the system and alleged misuse in other communities -- as reasons for the vote.

“We’ve heard from the community – overwhelmingly from the community - they have concerns with this, and we have the same concerns,” Commissioner LeAnn Pierce said. “We feel like there needs to be more safeguards put in place, and until we can find what those safeguards are, we’re cancelling the contract with Flock.”

NHCSO’s contract with Flock, which cost $219,000, covered 20 automated license plate readers. The cameras in New Hanover County that are part of the SBI’s statewide program are not part of the contract and will remain up. The vote also doesn’t apply to cameras operated by other agencies in the county, like Wrightsville Beach, Kure Beach or Carolina Beach Police.

“We heard, very loudly, they have great concerns over mass surveillance, privacy issues. We hear very loudly what the community is saying,” Commissioner Rob Zapple said. “Privacy rights are important to all Americans, certainly all people who live in New Hanover County, and I’d like to protect that.”

The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office has already begun cutting off its access to the Flock Safety camera system following the commissioners’ vote.

In a statement shared on social media on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said it is working with county commissioners and the county manager to terminate the agreement, and Flock has been informed. Flock, which owns the equipment, is in charge of physically removing the cameras, according to county officials.

According to the sheriff’s office, several actions have already been taken:

• National data-sharing has been disabled
• System access for current employees has been removed
• The State Bureau of Investigation has been notified of the termination

“The Sheriff’s Office will continue working with the County Commissioners and County Manager to ensure the termination process is handled appropriately,” the statement read.

A WECT Investigates report previously revealed that outside agencies have conducted nearly three million searches of New Hanover County’s Flock network since 2025. NHCSO deputies have conducted 6,000 searches since June 1, according to public records.

Read the full statement from the Sheriff’s Office below:

The program has also faced scrutiny in neighboring Brunswick County, where a sheriff’s office employee recently resigned following an investigation into allegations of system misuse. The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into that alleged misuse, along with allegations inside the Wrightsville Beach Police Department.