ATKINSON — Atkinson, a Pender County town no larger than 1 square mile, has become the first jurisdiction in North Carolina to ban automated license plate readers.
Last year, an ALPR camera showed up in Atkinson without a vote from the town board of commissioners. Commissioners say they were not informed by the Pender County Sheriff’s Office that a camera was going to be installed.
“We first thought it was just a tag reader, a speed thing, maybe put in by the sheriff’s department,” town commissioner Penny Stith told Port City Daily on Friday “All the news about Flock cameras started coming out and then we realized what it was.”
READ MORE: Brunswick County paying for 8 Flock cameras but have 15 in use — new purchases paused
ALSO: County asks Flock for $53K ALPR refund, still on hook for Condor cameras
ALPR cameras — such as Flock — use AI to automatically capture vehicle information including its license plate, make and model. The data is then put into a cloud for both law enforcement and other private entities with Flock contracts to search without warrants.
Stith said the council was concerned over data collection and storage, as well as the lack of warrants needed to search it so they broached the idea of a ban.
On Sept. 3 the board presented the ordinance at a town meeting. A public hearing was held Oct. 1 to garner public feedback on the banning proposal; during the meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to pass the ordinance.
Effective Oct. 2 and signed by Mayor Gary Alsup, the ordinance includes concerns with the Fourth Amendment saying there has been controversy over the cameras’ constitutionality.
“The Town’s governing body does not want any citizens and residents who live within the corporate limits of the Town of Atkinson or any member of the general public to be subjugated to an unreasonable search in violation of the United States and North Carolina Constitutions,” the ordinance indicates.
At the time of the camera being erected in a county-owned lot on Highway 53, Atkinson was unable to prevent its placement. However, several weeks ago the camera was cut down and placed behind town hall. Smith explained the sheriff’s office is investigating the incident.
Town attorney Robert Kenan was asked by a board member during Thursday’s meeting if they passed the ordinance, would the Flock camera be “grandfathered in” because it was already there prior to the change.
“No, they’re not grandfathered,” Kenan said.
He later cited North Carolina General Statute 160A-296, which gives cities authority and control over all public streets, sidewalks, alleys, bridges, and other ways of public passage within its corporate limits.
This authority includes the ability to prohibit digging in these areas and placing poles, fixtures or appliances on, above or below the surface — meaning on land within the town’s limit ALPR cameras can be forbidden.
Upon asking the county if it agrees with Keenan’s interpretation of the state statute a spokesperson deferred to the sheriff’s office for information regarding Flock cameras and their placement. Port City Daily contacted the Pender County Sheriff’s Office for an interview but did not hear back by press.
The Pender County Sheriff’s Office currently has an ongoing contract for eight ALPR Flock cameras, costing $76,037. It was paid over two budget years, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. The Flock Transparency Portal for Pender County indicates there have been 23 user search sessions and 280,811 unique plate reads within the past 30 days across county cameras.
Mark Williams, lawyer and founder of DeFlockILM — an organization advocating for the removal of Flock cameras — spoke in Atkinson during Thursday’s meeting and encouraged the board to pass the ordinance.
Williams owns property in Atkinson and said while he’s passionate about ALPRs, the ordinance in this small town, population 485, was personal.
“This will be big news for the state,” Williams told Port City Daily. “Even though Atkinson is a really tiny town, this shows the people here standing up for themselves.”
Other jurisdictions have canceled Flock contracts in recent months, though no bans have been put into place. Locally, New Hanover County got rid of the ALPR Flock cameras Sept. 8, but still uses Condor video cameras. In Brunswick County, the contracts for new Flock cameras have been paused.
Stith added Atkinson’s decision to ban the cameras sends a big message.
“We represent small-town America,” she said, sharing the community is made up of farmers and professionals who have moved to the town to get away from population centers. “If big cities want to be surveilled and that type of thing, then you can move to a city but that’s not how we like to live out here.”
The town meeting had less than 20 attendees; town librarian Joseph Lee spoke against the cameras.
“I have the real privilege of being an ear to a lot of people,” Lee said, adding those he talked to — which he called “diverse” and “bipartisan” — expressed feelings of deceit. “All of them felt extremely uncomfortable with the Flock camera’s presence in Atkinson.”
Williams said that while Pender County Sheriff’s Office gave commissioners an information presentation on Flock technology several years ago, there was never a public hearing. He pointed out, oftentimes, the technology is presented as “simply” being a license plate camera — including by elected officials such as Pender County Commissioner Randy Burton.
However, Williams disagrees, adding Flock’s patent specifically is designated to track people.
While traditional license plate cameras record footage or images of plates that a person has to review, ALPRs use software that automatically reads information and puts it into a database.
“America was founded on the principle that we would not have mass government surveillance, we would not have warrantless searches,” Williams said to Atkinson commissioners Thursday. “I think they’re inconsistent with the concept that you’re innocent until proven guilty. These cameras treat everyone as suspects, and so I ask you to vote for the ordinance.”
[Editors note: The piece has been updated to reflect it is commissioner Penny Stith, not Smith. PCD regrets this error.]
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