2026 08 17 28 Public Comment
The short version: A Wilmington-area resident takes Flock's ALPR surveillance straight to New Hanover County Commissioners, showing local pushback is spreading beyond big cities.
Our Take
Credit where it's due: DeFlockILM is doing the unglamorous work of showing up to county commission meetings and putting ALPR surveillance on the public record. This clip of a public comment at the Aug. 17 New Hanover County meeting is exactly the kind of grassroots accountability that keeps these programs from sliding through on autopilot. Local governments love to approve Flock contracts in budget line items nobody reads — public comment is one of the few moments where elected officials actually have to listen.
What makes New Hanover County worth watching is that it's not a flashy metro market — it's the kind of mid-sized county where Flock often expands quietly, with little press coverage and even less scrutiny of retention policies, data-sharing agreements, or audit logs. One resident standing up and asking hard questions is a small thing, but it's how these fights get won: meeting by meeting, county by county, with people on the ground who actually read the contracts.
If you're in New Hanover County or anywhere else wondering whether Flock cameras are already watching your commute, check our camera map to see what's been documented near you, and if you want to push back at your own commission meeting, our take-action page has the records requests and talking points to get started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of DeFlockILM, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.