Flock Safety manufactures automatic license plate readers, and maintains a network of over 100,000 cameras around the nation. They’re owned by both private users and law enforcement agencies, but collectively they form a sweeping surveillance system that allows warrantless searches on people’s driving habits – and likely much more.
That’s provoked a wide range of criticisms from people across the political spectrum, including data access oversight, profiling and other abuses by officers, ongoing civil suits challenging the constitutionality of these cameras, and broader and more philosophical concerns about government surveillance in general.
The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office has a two-year $219,000 contract to operate 20 Flock license plate cameras (one of which was apparently stolen), although the office also has other surveillance tools it uses. Sheriff Ed McMahon has defended the cameras, while also saying his office has instituted additional policies to provide transparency and accountability.
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On Monday afternoon, protestors gathered outside the New Hanover County courthouse, before heading inside to speak at the public comment section. Given three minutes each, it took over an hour and a half for all to have their say.
You can watch the entire meeting below. Public comment on Flock cameras begins just before the 50:30 mark.
Protestors criticized Flock Safety’s ties to concerns about data harvesting by the tech industry, and specifically billionaire Peter Thiel, the German-American billionaire investor who has increasingly been dismissive of democratic norms.
Protestors also mentioned concerns about due process and a lack of transparency when it comes to the Flock cameras operated by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.
As pointed out by David Buzzard, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who recently challenged Republican Congressman David Rouzer in the primary, the crowd was politically eclectic. Protesters included organizers and members of the progressive Indivisible Wilmington group, Libertarian school board member David Perry, and a variety of people from conservative, liberal, and more niche political backgrounds.
Wilmington attorney Mark Andrews, an outspoken critic who works with a local chapter of DeFlock, an organization opposed to the license plate readers, told commissioners, “We're not asking you to dismantle the system today. We ask for three things: pause it, audit it, hold a hearing on it.”
No one, during the meeting, spoke in favor of Flock cameras.
While commissioners didn’t discuss any potential policy changes, they thanked protestors for sharing their perspectives, and said they would be digging deeper into the issue. Several commissioners mentioned that they had not been familiar with the details of NHCSO’s contract with Flock and had just received their own copies on Monday, which they planned to review.
“We have the same questions that you have. So we will be looking into that. We will be talking about it. I'm sure you have not heard the end of this. We need to go back and meet amongst our board and work through this,” Chairwoman LeAnn Pierce said.
