The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting on Tuesday morning, spending about fifteen minutes in closed session before emerging to announce that, in essence, they were cancelling the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) program run by the Sheriff’s office.
The decision comes after intense public pushback at the commissioners' meeting in mid-August, where speakers from across the political spectrum voiced many of the same concerns: 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.
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Republican Vice-Chair Dane Scalise made a motion to cancel the portion of the county’s contract with Flock Safety that covers stationary ALPR cameras. According to the contract, the county funds 20 cameras, including three long-range models (one camera has reportedly been stolen).
Additionally, the contract covers eight Solar Condor PTZ, which, unlike stationary ALRPs, provide real-time surveillance with the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom, and can be mounted on mobile trailers. Those cameras, which don't appear to be part of Flock's extensive network of ALRPs, were not covered by Scalise’s motion.
Democratic Commissioner Rob Zapple said he and Republican Chairwoman LeAnn Pierce had met with Sheriff Ed McMahon to learn more about the Flock technology, and had come away concerned. He said he wanted to pause the program until officials could draw guidelines around the use of the cameras and raise the community’s level of trust and comfort. He added Flock’s own policy shifts also made him uncomfortable.
“It’s impressive the amount of information that they can glean from the system, so much so that I feel absolutely, I guess in my language, I’d like to take a pause on the contract — which I know is difficult, as a pause, in this case, could mean a cancellation,” Zapple said.
Scalise said he would prefer to simply cancel the contract, given the recent examples of abuse, including a deputy in Brunswick County, and noting the need for criminal liability for those who misuse the system. He added that was not an indictment against McMahon.
“I want to say this very clearly: our sheriff's goal all along has been to protect the people of this county. That is his entire purpose in operating in the way that he does, to make sure that our community is safe. It is not his fault, it is not his staff's fault, that the guardrails around this technology are not sufficient. But unless and until they become sufficient, I think that it is better for us to, rather than just take a pause, take a cancellation as to the ALPR stationary equipment that we have throughout the county, public roadways, county property,” Scalise said.
Democratic Commissioner Stephanie Walker asked whether the ‘tilt-and-zoom’ cameras were part of the Flock system. Pierce said no. Walker also asked about cameras mounted on I-40. County Manager Chris Coudriet said that other ALRPs operated by the State Highway Patrol or other entities would be “beyond the reach” of the county's decision. Scalise noted that commissioners couldn’t address the issue in other counties or at the state level.
Walker also noted concerns about data privacy, calling the situation a “slippery slope,” as well as the community’s discomfort with mass surveillance.
“You don't know where the data is. You don't know who's got it, who's using it, what they're using it for. And the concern, actually — I took a lot of notes at our last meeting — the word I wrote down the most was surveillance. People are very concerned with that part of it,” Walker said.
Pierce said she wanted the public to know commissioners had been having extensive discussions.
“We've had conversations every day with our staff. We did not want to move into a knee-jerk reaction before we had all the information in front of us. We all know how important AI is and how fast it moves, and how fast that technology moves, and the government has to move as fast. And those safeguards are just not in place to protect the privacy of our citizens at this time. We've heard from our folks, we know what they want, and I think it's time for us to act on that decision,” Pierce said.
The commissioners voted 4-0 to end the ALRP contract (Republican Commissioner Bill Rivenbark was attending remotely and thus wasn't allowed to vote).
Coudriet was tasked with working out the details. It’s not immediately clear when the ALRP cameras will be removed or what, if any, costs will be associated with cancelling the contract.
Disclosure notice: Zapple is a member of the WHQR Board of Directors, which has no say in editorial or reporting decisions.
