City suspending use of flock camera system

Our Take

Credit to FOX Carolina News for getting city officials on record admitting what we've been saying for a while: nobody actually knows if these camera networks deliver on their promises, and almost nobody bothered to ask before installing them. A "pause to study" is a rare, welcome moment of a government body treating a surveillance rollout like the serious civil liberties decision it is, instead of just rubber-stamping a vendor's sales pitch.

What's notable here isn't just the suspension — it's the admission that effectiveness and privacy were never fully weighed in the first place. That's the pattern nationwide: Flock systems get approved in a council meeting with little scrutiny, then the public learns later how much data is being vacuumed up, who can access it, and how long it's retained. A city hitting pause to ask basic questions should be the norm, not a headline.

If you want to see whether your own neighborhood has these cameras already running unchecked, check our camera map, and if you want to push your local officials toward the same kind of scrutiny this city is finally applying, our take-action guide has you covered.