Oconee County council to discuss Flock camera ordinance

Our Take

FOX Carolina's Brookley Cromer flags a story that's playing out in county seats all over the country: elected officials scrambling to write rules for surveillance tech after the cameras are already up or about to go up. Oconee County's council taking up a Flock ordinance is a good instinct, but the real question is whether that ordinance has teeth — retention limits, audit requirements, a ban on data-sharing with out-of-state or federal agencies, and actual public reporting on who accessed the system and why.

Too often these "ordinances" amount to a rubber stamp after the fact, with vague language that lets police departments keep doing exactly what they were already doing. If you're in Oconee County, this is the moment to show up to that council meeting and ask hard questions before the vote, not after.

Check our map to see what's already deployed near you, and hit take action for tools to push your own local officials toward real accountability instead of a paper policy.