A network of AI cameras photograph, log, and track the movements of nearly every driver in our county, people suspected of nothing. The county hired a private tech company that can't even say who's searching the data. The contract is up for renewal in 2027. It must be stopped.
These are automated license plate readers (ALPRs), made by a company called Flock Safety. These cameras are all networked together and use powerful AI processing to profile your movements and build a database that can be downloaded by anyone with access to the system indefinitely.
The data isn't even held here. It sits on the company's servers in another state, reachable through a national network of agencies, beyond the reach of North Carolina law.
Below is a map of Union County. Zoom into your own neighborhood to see the cameras you drive by every day. This map is maintained by DeFlock, a community project that documents ALPR cameras nationwide.
When a resident asked the county the most basic questions about the system watching its citizens, it couldn't answer, and pointed to the vendor. A system the county can't see, can't audit, and doesn't control isn't public safety. It's surveillance for hire.
At the June 16, 2026 budget meeting, the Sheriff's Office asked the Commission to fund another year of Flock. This is that presentation, from the county's official recording. Watch it, then read what the records show.
He's right that people willingly sign up for their phones. That is the whole point. No one signed up for this. The difference between a phone and a Flock camera is consent, and the county names consent as exactly what makes the phone acceptable. These cameras record people who never agreed to anything.
For four years the program ran with no policy at all, until a resident pointed it out. The first replacement, written overnight, fell short of the statute's nine requirements by the county's own admission. A program governed this loosely, this late, is not one the county has ever truly controlled.
Union County can end this on its own terms: no penalty, on 30 days' written notice. The decision runs on the county budget calendar, and there are clear moments where residents' voices count. Here is when.
The months before the budget is written are when public pressure matters most. Contact your commissioners. Speak at meetings. Tell your neighbors what's here.
The proposed FY2028 budget is filed with the clerk. The Flock funding sits inside the Sheriff's Office appropriation. Once it's public, anyone can read it.
The residents' formal, on-the-record chance to speak before the vote. First Monday of June, 6 p.m., 500 N. Main Street, Monroe.
The Board decides whether to fund the contract for another year. This is the moment. To fund it is a choice; to decline is the county's clean, penalty-free exit.
Unless the county has chosen to fund and renew it. The power to let it end already belongs to the people Union County elects.
Budget dates follow the county's usual calendar and will be confirmed when the FY2028 schedule is set.
This case rests on the county's own documents, not on anyone's characterization of them. Download and read them.
PRR Sheriff's Records ResponseThe Sheriff's Office answer to a resident's records request: including the records it could not produce, and the audit it would not release. ↓ POL Union County ALPR PolicySheriff's Office Policy 334: the rules governing the camera system, adopted April 20, 2026. ↓ TRN Flock Training MaterialsThe internal training emails and deck: including the instruction that data must be downloaded from Flock to be preserved. ↓ CON Flock ContractThe agreement the county signed with Flock: the terms that hand data control to the vendor. ↓The contract isn't decided until the county's 2027 budget vote, but the pressure that decides it has to build now. Nothing below requires you to wait.
Public comment is built for exactly this: a resident telling the people who hold the county's checkbook what they think. First & third Mondays, 6 p.m., 500 N. Main St., Monroe. Register to speak →
"Innocent people shouldn't be filmed simply for existing. That's not a legal argument. It's just true, and it's worth three minutes of your time to say so out loud."
And tell your neighbors, most people don't know this is here. Share this page.