Aaron Childers

Our Take

Credit to DeFlockILM for getting a camera into the room when it counts. Public comment at a county commissioners meeting is one of the few moments where ordinary residents can put elected officials on record about a surveillance system most of them never voted on directly. Aaron Childers using his three minutes to question New Hanover County's Flock deployment is exactly the kind of local accountability work that doesn't trend nationally but actually moves the needle.

This is the pattern we see over and over: a sheriff's office or police department signs a Flock contract, cameras go up on public roads, and the first real public scrutiny happens months or years later when a resident finally stands up at a commissioners meeting and asks who's watching the watchers. By then the data-sharing agreements, the retention policies, and the vendor contracts are already baked in. That's backwards, and it's why showing up early and loudly matters.

If you're in New Hanover County or anywhere else with Flock cameras creeping onto your roads, don't wait for someone else to ask the hard questions. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and use our take-action resources to find out how to get on your own commissioners' agenda.