NEW HANOVER COUNTY — After commissioners voted to partially cancel its Flock contract with the sheriff’s office earlier this month, New Hanover County sent a letter to the company requesting a refund of public money.
A Sept. 9 letter addressed to Max Katelouz of Flock Group Inc. informs the company of the 4-0 vote to decommission the automatic license plate readers only, including 17 Flock Safety Falcon cameras and three Solar Falcon readers.
Signed by Chief Financial Officer Eric Credle, the letter also makes clear the termination of the ALPRs is all that is null and void: “no changes to the Condor cameras portion of the contract.”
READ MORE: Flock contract canceled in New Hanover County for automatic license plate readers
Eight Condor cameras remain throughout the county — they’re video operational, can be AI-enabled, and tilt and zoom to follow people and vehicles. Law enforcement can watch them in real time.
Information from Flock cameras are put into a cloud database for law enforcement entities to search without warrants. The subject has been controversial, with the public citing violations of the Fourth Amendment, data privacy risks, and problems with mass surveillance.
The $219,000 New Hanover County Flock contract was signed in February 2025, in effect through spring 2027. Credle wrote in the termination letter the county wished to receive a $53,571.43 refund for the remainder of the nine-month contract period for the ALPRs.
He broke down numbers for Port City Daily on Tuesday, noting in May 2026, good through May 2027, the county paid $100,000 for the 20 ALPRs and eight Condor cameras.
“Of the $100,000, the invoice allocated $40,000 to the Condor cameras,” he added, meaning $60,000 went to the Falcon ALPRs. “The total payment was for $107,000, which included 7% sales tax ($7,000), which we will be refunded by the state at a future date.”
In the first year of the 2025 contract, Flock was paid for by federal discretionary funds.
Upon being asked about any potential cancellation fee, Credle said since the county made the full payment, he believed there isn’t anything else owed.
“It is possible that they will conclude that they are not legally required to issue us a partial refund for the LPR portion of the contract,” he said. “So far, they have only acknowledged receipt of the termination notice.”
After the vote to take down the ALPRs by county commissioners last week, New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office disabled national data sharing, removed system access for current employees and notified the State Bureau of Investigation of the ALPR termination.
The sheriff’s office has not revealed locations of the county-owned cameras, though some of the Condors have been identified by DeFlock ILM — a nonprofit dedicated to protecting citizen rights. According to its analysis, there are cameras at Veteran’s Park, Ogden Park and Long Leaf Park.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Lt. Jerry Brewer confirmed the office will continue using Condor cameras for video but didn’t further elaborate how. Brewer added the Flock system has helped in “multiple dozens” of arrests and decommissioning the ALPRs will have “significant” impact on New Hanover County Sheriff operations.
DeFlock ILM’s Mark Spencer Williams sent a letter to commissioners on Monday, Sept. 14, asking for clarification on the board vote last week. Williams commended the elected leaders on their action but asked them to verify for the public and in writing how far their support goes.
Petitions have been circulated in recent months from DeFlock, with almost 4,000 signatures from Cape Fear residents to do away with the surveillance hardware and software. At the Aug. 17 meeting, more than 40 people spoke to commissioners for two hours about their concerns, not to mention there have been various letters sent to officials in the last few months as well.
At the Sept. 8 meeting, Vice Chair Dane Scalise made a surprise motion after coming out of a closed session regarding Chemours litigation to “cancel the Flock contract as to the fixed ALPR cameras.” All voting commissioners contended the technology was too complex and far-reaching without enough guardrails in place to satisfy public funding support.
“A party may amend a contract to remove part of what it covers, and it may cancel a contract in its entirety,” Williams wrote to commissioners. “We contend the County cannot do both at once: you cannot ‘cancel’ a contract while continuing to perform the rest of it. A ‘cancellation’ that leaves the Condor cameras running is not a cancellation — it is an amendment that keeps Flock in New Hanover County under a narrower description. If the Board canceled the Flock contract, then by operation of that cancellation the Condors are included, and they come down with the plate readers.”
Williams asked the commissioners to either correct the record for support of a full cancellation, including Condor cameras, or show their vote was an amendment to the Flock contract.
“Not a cancellation,” he wrote. “And the public is entitled to be told so. We say this last part without exaggeration: of everything the County’s Flock contract bought, the Condors are the part that should trouble a parent most. A plate reader logs a car. A Condor is a camera … to watch a person — or a child — in real time, in a public park, with no plate and no case number.”
Commissioner Stephanie Walker posted Monday on her blog The Flytrap Brief about confusion she is hearing from residents as well regarding what still stands with Flock and the county.
“There has been a misconception the whole contract was canceled,” she confirmed Tuesday to Port City Daily.
Though she stands by her vote on Sept. 8 to slash support of the ALPRs, Walker remains open to continuing discussions about the Condors.
Port City Daily followed up with all commissioners whether they plan to take up the Condor camera portion of the contract; Chair LeAnn Pierce was tied up in an engagement and couldn’t answer. Scalise, Rob Zapple, and Bill Rivenbark didn’t respond.
Walker said she wants to learn more about the technology overall and how far-extending its capabilities run, to make a more informed decision.
“I don’t know enough about what’s collected, what the information is for, and how they use it to potentially catch people committing crimes,” she said.
Regarding how county money is spent, Walker added the sheriff’s office could still pay for surveillance technology with other funding, such as grants. Not to mention a future commissioner board could also support Flock or a different contract.
The county’s vote on Flock ALPRs are only relevant to equipment on county-owned property; not private businesses or state-owned rights-of-way that have cameras installed. It also does not include cameras approved by municipal police departments, such as in Wrightsville, Carolina or Kure beaches, all of which utilize the program. Wilmington Police Department does not have a Flock contract.
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