Catawba (NC) Cutting Flock System
The short version: Catawba, NC is dropping its Flock ALPR system over budget concerns, proving surveillance contracts are never as 'free' as vendors claim.
Our Take
Credit to WCNC for catching this one: a town council actually looked at its Flock Safety contract, weighed it against other budget priorities, and decided the cameras weren't worth the recurring cost. That's a rare moment of fiscal clarity in a surveillance market built on the opposite — cities signing multi-year deals, auto-renewing licenses, and hardware leases that quietly balloon year over year while elected officials forget they ever approved them.
This matters because Flock's entire sales pitch leans on the idea that ALPR networks are a public-safety no-brainer, practically free crime-fighting magic. Catawba's decision is a reminder that these systems carry real line-item costs, and that 'prudent' budgeting and mass license-plate tracking don't always point the same direction. When a town actually runs the numbers, the surveillance apparatus doesn't always win.
If your city is weighing the same tradeoff, don't wait for a budget crisis to force the conversation — check whether Flock or similar cameras are already running near you on our camera map, and see how to push your own council toward transparency and cancellation on our take-action page.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WCNC, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.