Topsail Area Flock and ALPR Cameras: Who Owns Them, What They Record, and Your Rights

Over the past week, photos and posts about pole-mounted cameras near the Lowe’s and Harris Teeter plazas off NC 210 in Surf City have moved through local Facebook groups, along with claims that they’re speed traps, that they’re federal, that they scan faces, and that the state “just legalized” them.

A necessary caveat before anything else: Topsail Guide has not independently verified that license plate readers are installed at either of those businesses, or determined who would own them if they are. Those two plazas sit adjacent to one another and to a state-maintained roadway, which means a camera in that general area could plausibly fall under private ownership, public right-of-way, or neither. We are making no claim about specific equipment at specific addresses, and this article should not be read as confirming any.

What we can do is explain the two systems people are actually arguing about, because most of the confusion isn’t about the cameras at all. It’s about which framework applies, who has authority over it, and what the law permits.

There are two separate license plate camera tracks operating in North Carolina right now:

• Public roads and state rights-of-way: a program run by the State Bureau of Investigation with NCDOT, made permanent in the July 2026 state budget, governed by a specific state statute.
• Private parking lots and commercial centers: retailers, shopping centers, HOAs and property managers buying the same hardware for their own purposes, governed mostly by contract and company policy, not by that statute.

Different owners. Different authority. Different rules about what the data can be used for. Sorting them apart resolves most of what people are arguing about, so that’s how this piece is organized.

Fast Facts

What an ALPR Actually Captures

North Carolina’s statute defines an ALPR system as “automated high speed cameras used in combination with computer algorithms to convert images of license plates into computer readable data,” and expressly excludes traffic control and toll systems from that definition.

What the manufacturer says it records:

• The license plate number
• Visible vehicle characteristics: make, model, color, body type, and features like roof racks or bumper stickers
• The date, time and location of the read

What the manufacturer says it does not do, quoting Flock’s own published materials:

• No facial recognition. On its LPR product page, Flock states its cameras “only capture vehicle data” and “do not collect personal information, facial recognition, or anything tied to individuals.”
• No speed detection. Flock’s FAQ states: “Flock Safety cameras do not have speed detection capabilities.”
• No data sales. Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin told WCTI’s News 12 Investigates: “Flock does not sell any data to any outside party. We contractually cannot because we do not own that data.”

Beilin also framed the company’s view of the privacy question directly: “There is no assumption of privacy in the exterior of a vehicle that’s in plain view.”

Critics don’t dispute what the hardware captures. They dispute what accumulates. Ed Vogel of the group DeFlock told WCTI: “They take photos of every passing car 24/7, 365.” He continued: “Where I drive every day, where I go to work, where my kids go to school, where I go to church — that’s a lot of sensitive information, and no one should have access to that kind of information.”

Both of those statements can be accurate at the same time. The camera photographs a car; the database accumulates a pattern. That distinction is the whole debate, and it’s worth holding onto as you read the rest.

Track One: Public Roads and State Rights-of-Way

Who Has Authority Here

• The North Carolina General Assembly sets the rules. Article 3D of Chapter 20 has governed police ALPR use since 2015.
• The SBI runs the state-road program and enters agreements with NCDOT for camera placement.
• NCDOT controls the right-of-way and the encroachment approval process. No agency puts a pole on state land without going through it.
• Local sheriffs and police departments apply to participate and operate their own cameras under their own written policies.
• This matters more than it sounds: as UNC School of Government’s Belal Elrahal noted, “Nearly 80% of North Carolina roadways are controlled by the state rather than by municipalities.” Opening state roads opened most of the map.

What the Law Allows and Forbids

Under Article 3D, agency-operated readers come with hard limits:

• Permitted uses are enumerated. § 20-183.30(5) restricts use to “actions related to criminal investigations, arrests, prosecutions, post-conviction confinement, or supervision,” “apprehending an individual with an outstanding felony warrant,” “locating a missing or endangered person,” and “locating a lost or stolen vehicle.”
• Traffic enforcement is explicitly banned. § 20-183.31(b): “data obtained under the authority of this Article shall not be used for the enforcement of traffic violations.”
• Retention is capped at 90 days, with narrow exceptions for a preservation request, a search warrant, or certain motor carrier matters.
• The data is confidential and not a public record, cannot be sold, and may be disclosed only to criminal justice officers for a legitimate law enforcement purpose, pursuant to a written request.
• Written policies and audits are mandatory, covering databases used, retention, sharing, operator training, supervision, security and annual reporting. Agencies must also keep maintenance and calibration records.
• Misuse is a crime. Since 2023, unlawfully obtaining, accessing, preserving or disclosing this data is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• Placement rules apply on state land: installations must be above ground, removable, free of combustible fuel, and sited so they don’t unreasonably interfere with utilities.

What Changed in July 2026

• A 2023 law created a pilot allowing SBI/NCDOT agreements for readers in state rights-of-way, effective January 2024. A 2024 law extended it to July 1, 2026.
• On June 17, 2026, language making the program permanent was stripped out of House Bill 206. The ACLU of North Carolina, which had opposed the bill, noted on its legislation tracker that it “no longer opposes HB 206 since lawmakers removed the ALPR provision on 6/17/2026.” The organization restated its underlying principle: “people should not be tracked, cataloged, and analyzed by either government or corporations absent individualized suspicion and oversight.”
• Substantially similar language then appeared in the state budget, Senate Bill 257, signed by Gov. Josh Stein in early July. As WRAL reported, it makes the program permanent and authorizes readers on state-maintained roads statewide.
• House Speaker Destin Hall told WRAL that “the benefit that it does in public safety … outweighs the concerns.” Senate leader Phil Berger said: “I believe this is an appropriate step.”

What’s Actually Installed Near Us

This is where the local record diverges sharply from the online assumption. From the SBI’s own report to the General Assembly, filed April 7, 2026:

• 32 agencies approved to participate: 12 police departments, 19 sheriffs’ offices, and the State Highway Patrol.
• Only 17 of those 32 had installed anything as of March 15, 2026: 140 camera locations total in NCDOT rights-of-way. The report attributes the gap to agencies “working through the DOT encroachment approval process” or “waiting on vendor installations.”
• New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office: 19 camera locations, the regional leader, with more than 35 million plates captured in roughly seven months, per WECT.
• Pender County Sheriff’s Office: approved, but not in the installation table. No state-road cameras as of the March 15 cutoff.
• Onslow County: not in the program at all.
• Surf City Police Department: not among the 32, though the town’s own records show separate, locally held Flock access. See What the Town’s Own Records Do Show.
• On retention, the report states there were “zero (0) occasions that the data captured by these cameras was preserved for more than 90 days during the pilot program.”

Bottom line for the US 17 corridor: as of the last official accounting, there were no documented state-program readers in Pender or Onslow rights-of-way. The corridor density in our region sits south of us, in New Hanover.

Two caveats that keep that from being permanent. The cutoff predates the budget by four months, and the SBI has stated its goal is covering every entrance and exit to the state. Its next required update to the legislature is due October 1, 2026: that’s the document where any new Pender or Onslow placement would appear.

Track Two: Private Parking Lots and Commercial Centers

Who Has Authority Here

• The property owner or business decides whether to install, where to point it, and how long to keep the data.
• The vendor sets the technical defaults and contract terms.
• Law enforcement has no automatic access, but can be granted it, and in North Carolina already has been, at scale.
• The town may have a permitting role for a physical pole or structure, but does not own or operate a private camera.
• Article 3D’s 90-day cap, warrant rules and criminal penalty govern law enforcement agencies: not a hardware store’s loss-prevention system.

What the Companies Say They Use It For

• Flock markets these systems to retailers, businesses, neighborhoods and property managers, not only to police.
• Home Depot told Fox News in May 2026 the cameras are “used solely as a security measure to prevent theft and protect the safety of our customers and associates,” adding that the company does “not grant access to our license plate readers to federal law enforcement.”
• Lowe’s privacy statement says ALPR data may be used to “help ensure security, prevent theft and fraud, assist with parking enforcement and help keep people and property safe.”
• Flock’s stated default is that customers control access. From its FAQ: “Flock customers own their own data. The neighborhood, business, or community determines who has access to footage.” The company’s default retention is 30 days, extendable up to a year with appropriate approval.

Where “Off by Default” Already Got Switched On

• WRAL reported in June 2026 that SBI Director Chip Hawley emailed Lowe’s in August 2025 requesting access to the company’s Flock network, and that by September 2025 the SBI was informed the data was accessible to its agents across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
• The SBI told WRAL the data “is used to combat organized retail theft and human trafficking,” and that “merchandise worth millions of dollars has been recovered.”
• WRAL reported the SBI made a similar request to Home Depot; the emails it obtained don’t show whether that one was granted.

What That Means Locally

• When WECT examined Flock contracts in southeastern North Carolina in June 2026, the Pender County Sheriff’s Office confirmed a contract with cameras “located on private properties around the county, using them exclusively for investigative purposes.”
• Brunswick, Columbus and New Hanover sheriffs’ offices also hold contracts. Wilmington Police Department does not.
• A New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told WECT the readers serve “as another investigative tool to help protect the community and support public safety efforts.”
• The crowdsourced DeFlock ILM tracker lists Onslow County running 12 Plate Ranger cameras, a different vendor entirely. The trackers themselves caution their maps are a floor, not a ceiling.

So in Pender County, the documented Flock footprint is on private property, not the highway: the reverse of what most people assume when they hear the state made the road program permanent.

Side by Side

	Public Road / State Right-of-Way	Private Lot / Commercial Center
Who owns it	Law enforcement agency	Business or property owner
Who approves placement	NCDOT encroachment process	Property owner; town permit may apply
Governing rules	Article 3D, Chapter 20	Contract + company policy
Retention limit	90 days by statute	Vendor default 30 days; up to a year by setting
Traffic tickets	Statutorily prohibited	Not a ticketing system
Police access	It is the police system	Only if the owner grants it
Public records	Contracts and policies are public; plate data is not	Generally not subject to public records law
Who to ask	Sheriff, SBI, NCDOT	Store or property manager first

Your Rights: What You Can Actually Do

As a driver on a public road

• You cannot opt out of being read, and Flock’s position is there’s no expectation of privacy in a plate in plain view. But the data collected under Article 3D cannot be used to ticket you for a traffic violation. That’s statutory, not a courtesy.
• You cannot obtain the plate data itself. It’s confidential by statute and not a public record.
• If you believe an officer accessed data about you improperly, that conduct is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Complaints go to the agency head, then the district attorney.

As a customer in a private parking lot

• The store isn’t required to disclose a reader to you, and Article 3D’s 90-day clock doesn’t automatically apply to it.
• You can ask management directly who owns the camera and who has access. That question is fair, and it’s the fastest route to an answer.
• You can ask the retailer’s corporate office in writing whether it has granted law enforcement access to its network at your location.

As a resident who wants the records

This is the part most people don’t realize is available to them. You do not need a lawyer, a journalist, or an advocacy group to find out what a public agency near you is running. North Carolina’s public records law, N.C.G.S. § 132-1 et seq., gives that right to any resident, and the paperwork around an ALPR program is largely public even though the plate data is not.

How it works:

• You do not have to explain why you want the records. No justification, no standing requirement, no form. A plain written request by email is sufficient.
• Send it to the agency’s public records custodian: the sheriff’s office for a county program, the police department or town clerk for a town program.
• Ask for electronic copies (PDF, CSV, Excel). Inspection is free, and electronic copies are typically free or near-free.
• Agencies must respond “as promptly as possible,” and must cite a specific statutory exemption if they withhold something.
• Expect the plate data itself to be withheld. It’s confidential by statute. The surrounding records generally are not.

What’s worth asking for, specifically:

• The written ALPR policy: Article 3D requires every agency using these systems to have one, covering retention, sharing, operator training, supervision and access controls
• The vendor contract and any renewals, plus invoices showing what’s being paid
• Any data-sharing agreements with other agencies, vendors, or private camera owners
• Audit logs and the agency’s annual ALPR audit or report
• The camera location list and current retention schedule
• Any records of misuse investigations or policy violations

DeFlock ILM publishes a North Carolina-specific how-to with template language you can adapt, and it maintains a public repository where residents post what they get back, so the answers benefit more than one person.

Topsail Guide is not filing these requests on anyone’s behalf, but if you do, and you’re willing to share what comes back, we’ll report on it.

As a resident who wants the policy changed

• Town level: speak at a Surf City council meeting. That mechanism is what moved this in Pittsboro and Hillsborough.
• County level: commissioners control sheriff’s office funding: the lever Macon County used in a unanimous July 2026 vote to let its contract lapse.
• State level: the road program is now permanent state law. Contact your legislators about S.B. 257 and Article 3D.
• Private lots are not a government decision. No council vote removes a camera a store bought. That one is a conversation with the retailer.

What We Could Not Confirm

We’ll be blunt about the gap, because it’s where speculation has filled in.

• We could not verify that license plate readers are installed at the Surf City Lowe’s or Harris Teeter at all. What exists publicly are resident photos and social posts. We found no council agenda item, no county contract naming those addresses, no permit record we could retrieve, and no news coverage.
• We could not determine ownership of any equipment in that area. The two plazas are adjacent to each other and to a state-maintained roadway. A camera in that vicinity could sit on private commercial property, in public right-of-way, or on a parcel whose status isn’t obvious from the street, and the correct framework depends entirely on which.
• We found no reporting tying Harris Teeter to a Flock deployment anywhere in North Carolina. That’s not proof either way. It’s the state of the record.
• The SBI’s documented access to Lowe’s network nationally makes retail deployment plausible as a category. Plausible is not confirmed, and a corporate-level arrangement says nothing definitive about any individual store.
• We are not identifying, locating, or attributing specific equipment to specific businesses. That’s not caution for its own sake: attributing a surveillance device to a named business without documentation is exactly the kind of claim that turns a factual discussion into a dispute. If an owner, operator or agency confirms something on the record, we’ll report it then.

What the Town’s Own Records Do Show

Surf City’s ALPR history is documented in the town’s own public records, and it’s more modest than the online conversation assumes. Topsail Guide reviewed both documents directly.

• A budget request in 2022. The minutes of the town’s March 25, 2022 budget work session record Police Chief Phillip J. Voorhees presenting his department’s budget, including “the increase in the capital outlay equipment line, which includes additional radios, police radios, Flock LPR Cameras, Bike Patrol, Surveillance Camera System, and a Message Board Sign.” The minutes note “No questions from council.”
• Worth noting what that line separates. “Flock LPR Cameras” and “Surveillance Camera System” appear as two distinct items in the same request: the town itself treated license plate readers and general surveillance cameras as different things.
• This was a request presented at a work session, not a recorded vote. The minutes document what the chief asked for in the FY budget discussion. They do not, on their own, establish what was ultimately adopted, purchased, or installed.
• Documented use in 2024. The town’s September 2024 Governmental Update includes a Police Department “Activity Log Event Summary (Cumulative Totals)” for 8/15/2024 – 9/15/2024, which lists “Flock use” with a count of 6, out of 3,802 total events logged that month.

That last figure is worth sitting with, because it cuts against assumptions in both directions. It confirms Surf City PD had operational access to Flock during that period. This is not hypothetical. It also shows the tool being logged six times in a month in which the department recorded 3,802 events, alongside categories like 2,633 business checks and 147 vehicle stops.

None of this establishes who owns the poles at the shopping center. And none of it should be confused with the town’s “More Eyes to Deter Crime” program, which is a voluntary registry of residents’ and businesses’ own existing security cameras, not a license plate reader network. Those two get merged constantly in comment threads.

The Claims We Keep Seeing, Checked

• “It’s a speed camera / I’ll get a ticket.” No, twice over. Flock states its cameras have no speed detection capability, and § 20-183.31(b) forbids using this data for traffic enforcement.
• “They scan faces.” Flock states its LPR cameras capture vehicle data only and use no facial recognition. That’s the vendor’s documented position on the hardware.
• “The new budget put a camera in the shopping center.” The budget governs state-maintained roads and state-owned land: nothing else. NC 210 and NC 50 through Surf City are state-maintained, and NCDOT’s ongoing R-5900 improvements at NC 210, Carretta Drive and Charlie Medlin Drive are a reminder of who controls that corridor. But a pole inside a private retail lot is a different legal situation entirely, and near a road like NC 210 the boundary between right-of-way and private parcel isn’t something you can eyeball from a parking space.
• “Pender County wired up Highway 17.” Not per the SBI’s own April 2026 report, which lists Pender as approved but shows no installations as of March 15. Pender’s documented Flock cameras are on private property.
• “Police can look up anyone, anytime.” For agency data, the law requires a written request citing an enumerated purpose, plus policies, audits, the 90-day cap, and criminal liability for misuse. Whether that’s consistently enforced is a live argument: WRAL reported only Asheville and Raleigh police had policies specifically addressing certain abuse concerns.
• “These things are never wrong.” Also not established. The Brennan Center cites a California study finding 37 percent of ALPR “hits” from fixed readers were misreads, and notes that “99.9 percent of the ALPR images stored by the LAPD are for vehicles not on a hot list at the time.” Those are out-of-state figures, not North Carolina ones, but they’re why error rates are part of the debate.
• “Nobody’s doing anything.” Hillsborough canceled. Pittsboro terminated, cameras off by July 1, 2026. Macon County voted unanimously to remove. Chatham County is publicly reweighing. On the other side, a Whiteville police chief told WECT the technology helped make an arrest in a March homicide investigation. Attorney Mark Williams, part of the opposition effort, told WECT: “It blows my mind there’s nationwide outrage, yet our state is moving forward to implement more.”

Why This Lands Differently Here

Our year-round population is small and our summer population is not.

• A large share of plates read here in July belong to visitors, second-home owners, rental guests and contractors, people with no vote in Surf City, Topsail Beach or North Topsail Beach and no practical way to weigh in.
• The problems retailers and sheriffs cite when they buy these systems (shoulder-season vehicle break-ins, construction-site theft, package theft) are real here too.
• Surf City straddles Pender and Onslow counties, which are in different places on this issue, so “the county” isn’t one answer.

Both of those first two things are true at once. Reasonable neighbors land in different places. What shouldn’t be up for grabs is the factual baseline.

Who to Contact: Matched to the Question

Sending a private-lot question to the SBI, or a state-budget complaint to a store manager, is how these inquiries die. Match the question to the office.

Curious about equipment at a specific business? The business is the only party who can answer that, and asking is entirely reasonable. Start with store management, then escalate through Lowe’s corporate contact page or Harris Teeter’s customer contact page. Separately, you can ask the Surf City Police Department whether the town owns, operates or receives data from any camera at a given location, and ask the Town of Surf City whether a permit was issued for a pole or structure at that address.

County law enforcement use? Pender County Sheriff’s Office · 605 E. Fremont St., Burgaw, NC 28425 · (910) 259-1212 · Info@pendersheriff.com. For the Onslow side of town, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office.

The state program on US 17 and other state roads? The State Bureau of Investigation runs it. NCDOT controls what’s permitted in a right-of-way, including encroachment agreements.

Want the policy changed? Surf City mayor and council, with agendas and minutes posted ahead of meetings. Pender and Onslow county commissioners control sheriff funding. For the state program, find your legislators at the General Assembly’s lookup page (note the address-based map tool is temporarily offline, but the county and district lists work).

Want the underlying records? You can request them yourself: see Your Rights above for exactly what to ask for and where to send it.

Think your data was misused? Complaints go to the agency’s chief or sheriff, then the district attorney. The ACLU of North Carolina tracks ALPR legislation and takes public input.

The Questions Still Open, and Who Can Answer Them

We were not able to close these from public sources. They’re listed here not as loose ends but as a starting point: each one has a specific office that can answer it, and any resident is entitled to ask.

Open question	Who can answer it	How
Whether any license plate reader is installed at a given Surf City business, and who owns it	That business; its corporate office	Direct inquiry; private companies aren’t subject to public records law
Whether a permit was issued for a pole or camera structure at a given address	Town of Surf City	Public records request
Whether the town owns, operates or receives data from a camera at a given location	Surf City Police Department	Public records request
Where the state right-of-way boundary actually falls along NC 210 near the plazas	NCDOT	Right-of-way plans and encroachment records
Whether Surf City PD has Flock access today, how many cameras, and under what written policy	Surf City Police Department	Public records request; Article 3D requires a written policy, and it’s public
Whether the 2022 “Flock LPR Cameras” capital-outlay line was ultimately funded, and what was bought	Town of Surf City finance / clerk	Public records request: adopted budget and purchase records
Whether any state-program reader has gone up in Pender or Onslow right-of-way since March 15, 2026	SBI; NCDOT	The SBI’s next report to the legislature, due Oct. 1, 2026; NCDOT encroachment records
How many ALPRs of any vendor are active in 28445	Pender and Onslow sheriffs’ offices	Public records request for camera location lists

If you pursue any of these and get a written answer, send it to us. We’ll report what the documents say.

If we’ve gotten something wrong, tell us: we’d rather run a correction than repeat a rumor.

How We Reported This, and What This Article Is Not

What we did. This is a records-based review, not an on-site investigation. We worked from what we could obtain and read directly: North Carolina’s ALPR statute, the SBI’s April 2026 report to the General Assembly, the Town of Surf City’s own posted minutes and governmental updates, the vendor’s published product and policy pages, corporate statements, and reporting by named news organizations. Every substantive claim above links to the underlying document or article so you can check it yourself rather than take our word for it.

What we did not do. We did not visit, photograph, inventory, or survey any parking lot or roadway. We did not determine property boundaries or right-of-way lines. We did not confirm the presence, ownership, or operator of any specific camera at any specific address.

This is a snapshot, not a live tracker. It reflects the public record as of July 27, 2026. Several of the underlying facts have known expiration dates: the SBI’s installation figures are current only to March 15, 2026; its next report to the legislature is due October 1, 2026; contracts and council decisions change month to month. We are not committing to maintain this page. If you’re reading it well after the publication date, treat every number as historical and verify it against the sources listed below.

This is journalism, not legal advice. It is our good-faith interpretation of publicly available records and reporting, written for general public understanding. Statutes are summarized, not reproduced in full, and summaries lose nuance. Nothing here should be relied upon in any legal, regulatory, or commercial matter, or used as a basis for any claim about any person, agency, or business. If you have a legal question about surveillance, privacy, or your own situation, consult a licensed North Carolina attorney.

Corrections. If you can document an error, we want to know. We’ll correct it and note what changed.

Full Source Catalog

Every source consulted for this article, grouped by type.

Primary Documents: Law and Government Records

• N.C.G.S. Chapter 20, Article 3D — Automatic License Plate Reader Systems: full text of the governing statute, including definitions, permitted purposes, the 90-day retention cap, confidentiality, and the Class 1 misdemeanor provision
• N.C.G.S. § 20-183.31 — Regulation of Use (Justia): the subsection containing the traffic-enforcement prohibition
• SBI Report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committees on Justice and Public Safety and Transportation, filed April 7, 2026 (PDF): the primary source for participating agencies, installed camera counts, plate capture totals, and retention compliance
• Town of Surf City — March 25, 2022 Budget Work Session Minutes (PDF): the minutes recording the “Flock LPR Cameras” capital-outlay request
• Town of Surf City — September 2024 Governmental Update: Police Department activity log showing “Flock use” counts
• Town of Surf City — Video Camera Enrollment / “More Eyes to Deter Crime”: the voluntary camera registry, distinct from ALPR
• NC General Assembly — Find Your Legislators

Vendor and Corporate Statements

• Flock Safety — License Plate Reader Cameras (product page)
• Flock Safety — Frequently Asked Questions
• Flock Safety — Retail industry page
• Flock Safety — What Is Flock?
• Flock Safety — Who Really Has Access to Your Flock Data?
• Lowe’s U.S. Privacy Statement
• Lowe’s Corporate — Contact Us
• Harris Teeter — Contact Us

News Reporting

• WRAL — Mass surveillance authorized on NC highways, all other state roads (July 2026)
• WRAL — NC law enforcement may track your next visit to a home improvement store (June 2026)
• WRAL — NC moves to lock in highway license plate reader program (June 2026)
• WRAL — Pittsboro leaders vote to terminate Flock camera contract
• WECT Investigates — Flock cameras spark debate between safety and privacy (June 1, 2026)
• WECT Investigates — State license plate reader program expands (July 21, 2026)
• WCTI News 12 Investigates — Inside Eastern Carolina’s expanding license plate reader network
• WLOS — Macon County to remove Flock license plate reader cameras after unanimous vote
• ABC11 — Chatham County weighs future of Flock cameras amid privacy concerns
• Fox News — License plate cameras in Home Depot and Lowe’s lots spark privacy fears (May 2026)
• Town of Hillsborough — Hillsborough Cancels Contract for License Plate Reader Cameras

Analysis, Advocacy and Reference

• UNC School of Government — License Plate Readers, Highway Pilot Program, and New Offense (Belal Elrahal, NC Criminal Law Blog)
• National Conference of State Legislatures — Automated License Plate Readers: State Statutes
• Brennan Center for Justice — Automatic License Plate Readers: Legal Status and Policy Recommendations
• ACLU — Get the Flock Out Toolkit
• ACLU of North Carolina — HB 206: DPS/Other Changes (legislation tracker)
• ACLU of North Carolina
• DeFlock ILM — Flock in North Carolina: A Town-by-Town Tracker (crowdsourced; the project notes its own map is “a floor, not a ceiling”)
• DeFlock ILM — Request Flock Records in NC: A Guide
• DeFlock ILM — Which NC Counties Have the Most ALPR Cameras

Agency and Contact References

• NC State Bureau of Investigation
• NCDOT — Contact
• Pender County Sheriff’s Office — Contact
• Onslow County Sheriff’s Office
• Surf City Police Department — Contact
• Surf City Police Department
• Surf City Mayor & Council
• Surf City — Agendas & Minutes
• Town of Surf City

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