[Ed. note: The piece was updated after press, to reflect new information from the county, as well as conversations with commissioners.]
NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted after a closed session on Tuesday morning to cancel the Flock contract with the sheriff’s office.
The motion was brought forth by Vice Chair Dane Scalise to stop using cameras with automated license plate readers. It passed unanimously, 4-0, with Commissioner Bill Rivenbark not voting due to tuning in remotely.
New Hanover County’s Flock contract is for $219,000 and includes funding of 36 cameras; it was set to expire in spring 2027. According to the county, 20 are automated license plate readers. The contract also has eight cameras known as Condors — cameras that operate on a tilt-and-zoom and provide high-resolution video feeds for law enforcement to view in real time. They also have the capability to actively track the movement of people and vehicles.
READ MORE: ‘Get the flock out of our lives’: NHC residents protest surveillance cameras
Scalise’s motion included stopping usage of the ALPRs. He didn’t answer by press why he left off the Condor cameras, though he told Port City Daily during an initial interview after the vote: “I do want to be very clear, I absolutely believe that our sheriff and his team have been good and honorable in their intentions with this technology.”
The sheriff’s office confirmed midday Tuesday it disabled national data sharing and removed system access for current employees; it also notified Flock of the contract termination. The original contract between NHCSO and Flock indicated the county could terminate the contract at any time and without cause. The sheriff’s office said Flock was working with its legal team regarding the cancellation process.
According to the county, the cameras will be removed by Flock due to liability concerns. It does not include cameras approved by municipal police departments, such as in Wrightsville, Carolina or Kure beaches, all of which utilize the program.
“The removal process could take some time,” County Manager Chris Coudriet informed county staff on Tuesday, emails indicate.
Port City Daily asked the county how much the contract will cost to keep the Condors and any other cameras up, but the county didn’t answer by press. It also couldn’t provide details, such as how much, if any, will be refunded from the contract from taking down the ALPRs and if there is a penalty to cancel the contract.
Chair LeAnn Pierce and Commissioner Rob Zapple have met with the sheriff in recent weeks to see how the Flock system works, they noted during Tuesday’s meeting. The cameras use AI to automatically capture vehicle information, such as a license plate, make and model. It’s put into a cloud database for both law enforcement and other private entities with Flock contracts to search without warrants.
Zapple told Port City Daily after the meeting that while he trusts the sheriff and his team, he was “uncomfortable” with the system’s power and potential abuse, also echoed by Scalise during the commissioners’ meeting.
This has recently come to light locally in Brunswick County. Sheriff Brian Chism revealed last week a deputy resigned regarding possible misuse of surveillance that warranted further review. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the case.
The SBI also is looking into a case in Wrightsville Beach as of Tuesday, Sept. 8 — announced after the commissioners’ meeting. Wrightsville Beach Police Department fired an officer due to potential misuse of Flock after an internal audit was conducted. The WBPD began using the cameras in March.
In August the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office committed to monthly internal review audits to be reviewed by Sheriff Ed McMahon for the county cameras. There have been no reported instances of misuse by a NHCSO employee to date.
Scalise told Port City Daily currently the protections don’t ensure searches in the Flock system are being used for “specific and identifiable” criminal investigations. He added there needs to be “sufficient criminal penalties” for those who misuse Flock; however, he does not believe that has happened within the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.
Zapple said he would feel more secure if a third party audit was in place — one that was represented by the district attorney, chief district judge or a superior court judge.
“Just to raise the comfort level of everyone, that there was a third party looking over the shoulder of the sheriff to make sure there was just no chance of some aberration or something going wrong with it,” Zapple said.
During his visit with the sheriff, Zapple said the sheriff assured him it wasn’t necessary. Zapple, Pierce and Scalise all want to see more safeguards in place to help ease citizen worry.
“There are just so many unanswered questions,” Chair Pierce said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Citizens have been protesting the cameras in recent months, many sending emails to commissioners to cancel the contract. This has come on the heels of other governments revoking support, such as in Asheville and Davidson County.
Commissioner Stephanie Walker noted as much and said the community across the political spectrum has aligned on the matter: “I personally, in my political career, have never seen that much agreement.”
At the Aug. 17 commissioners meeting, 41 people signed up to speak against the Flock system. Many asked for a pause on nationwide data-sharing, to release the unredacted search audit, and detail the county’s camera inventory.
Zapple said in August: “The contract that was put forward in our sheriff’s budget, I don’t believe that any of us were aware of what the contract had to say.”
Pierce told Port City Daily the first year Flock was used by the county, it was paid for using the sheriff office’s discretional funds — not controlled by commissioners. She added the second year Flock appeared, it was put in the budget under technology.
“We did not have a presentation on Flock cameras,” Pierce said.
She added commissioners started getting complaints from citizens around four months ago, as Flock’s operations also became more prevalent nationwide. Then in July, the North Carolina state budget included a provision allowing the North Carolina Department of Transportation and State Bureau of Investigation to place automated license plate readers, like Flock, on state-owned property.
Pierce explained after hearing from residents on Aug. 17, commissioners have been in constant conversations about next steps.
“That’s all we’ve done is talk about this camera, this camera system, ever since our last meeting,” Pierce told Port City Daily. “And, quite honestly, we didn’t feel like it could wait till the next meeting, so we took action today.”
However, not all commissioners were aware the vote would be occurring Tuesday.
Commissioner Walker said Flock was not on the meeting agenda; the commissioners were scheduled for a closed session with legal counsel regarding Chemours litigation. However, upon exiting Scalise introduced the Flock conversation on the floor.
Though supportive of canceling the contract, Walker wished to receive a head’s up to be better prepared with questions.
“We were ambushed with that vote,” she said, calling the situation “frustrating.”
Walker shared commissioners were told the sheriff would be at one of their upcoming meetings with representatives from Flock. She believed they all were waiting for that event to take place and wanted to be fair to the sheriff.
Scalise told Port City Daily: “I will not speak for any other commissioner, but I have extensive dialogs with the sheriff on a very regular basis, and he did know where my heart and my head was at on this issue.”
Scalise moved to cancel the ALPRs instead of pausing the contract: “That’s what the community wants us to do.”
Mark Williams, a local attorney, who’s part of DeFlock, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting citizen rights, was grateful for action. He told Port City Daily:
“We came to the Board asking for a pause. Commissioner Scalise moved to go further — a full cancellation — and Chair LeAnn Pierce, Commissioner Rob Zapple, and Commissioner Stephanie Walker stood with him. That took leadership, and it answered thousands of residents from across the political spectrum who asked their government not to track them without a warrant.”
Walker told Port City Daily the conversation regarding the Condor cameras should remain ongoing.
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