2026 08 17 23 Public Comment
The short version: A New Hanover County resident took the mic to challenge the sheriff's Flock ALPR network, and DeFlockILM caught the whole exchange on camera.
Our Take
This clip, filmed by DeFlockILM, is a reminder that the fight over Flock cameras isn't just happening in courtrooms or statehouses — it's happening in folding chairs at county commissioner meetings, where a few minutes of public comment can be the only real check on a sheriff's surveillance budget. We don't have the transcript, but the fact that a local resident showed up to put New Hanover County's ALPR program on the record matters more than the specific words used.
These cameras don't install themselves, and they don't stay accountable without someone asking who approved them, what the retention policy is, and who gets access to the data. Public comment is slow, unglamorous work, but it's often the first crack in the wall before real oversight happens. Credit to DeFlockILM for documenting it and keeping a public archive instead of letting it disappear into a meeting minutes PDF nobody reads.
If you want to know whether a similar network is already watching your commute, check our camera map, and if you're ready to speak up at your own county meeting, our take-action page has the tools 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.