WECT INVESTIGATES: Nearly 3 Million Searches? What New Hanover's Flock Audit Revealed
The short version: WECT's investigation found New Hanover County's Flock ALPR system racked up nearly 3 million searches, raising hard questions about oversight and scope.
Our Take
Credit to WECT News 6 for pulling the records and putting a number on what a lot of us have suspected for a while: these networks get used constantly, and nobody outside the department really knows why. Nearly three million searches isn't a rounding error — that's a system baked into daily policing in New Hanover County, not an occasional tool for the rare BOLO.
The problem isn't just the volume, it's the audit trail — or lack of one. When search counts climb into the millions, 'who looked up what, and for what reason' becomes almost impossible to meaningfully review after the fact. That's the whole pitch of these systems to local governments: convenience now, accountability later, if ever. New Hanover residents deserve an actual breakdown of search justifications, not just a tally.
This is exactly why we track where this hardware is going up in the first place. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your routes, and if you want to push back on your own county council or sheriff, our take-action page has a place to start.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WECT News 6, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.