2026 08 17 19 Public Comment
The short version: A New Hanover County resident took the mic to challenge the Flock ALPR program, showing how local public comment remains a front line in the fight against mass surveillance.
Our Take
Credit to DeFlockILM for documenting this public comment at the New Hanover County Commissioners meeting. Whatever the specific arguments raised, the act itself matters: a resident showing up, on the record, to question why county government is bankrolling a network of license plate cameras that quietly logs everyone's movements. That's exactly the kind of local pressure that forces commissioners to actually account for these contracts instead of rubber-stamping them in the consent agenda.
Flock's pitch to county boards is always the same — crime-fighting tool, nothing to worry about if you've got nothing to hide. But ALPR networks don't just catch the people they're sold to catch; they build a searchable travel history on every driver who passes a reader, retained and shared far beyond what most residents realize when they vote for their commissioners. Public comment sessions like this one are often the only moment that gets forced into the public record before a vote, which is why it's worth watching even when the room is small and the agenda item is buried near the bottom.
If New Hanover County has Flock cameras near you, check our camera map to see what's already been documented, and visit our take-action page for ways to push back at your own county meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of DeFlockILM, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.