Law enforcement agencies across North Carolina have been using automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, technology quietly for the past several years to little knowledge of residents. But this technology has become controversial nationwide and synonymous with Flock cameras, which take images of license plates at a singular point in time and enter them into a database where artificial intelligence catalogs vehicle characteristics, like a vehicle’s make, model and color.
Communities in rural parts of Western North Carolina, who are used to the kind of privacy that comes with winding mountain roads, have been surprised to find that their local governments may have a contract with Flock and several of Flock’s cameras installed on roadways. Some say the technology is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
In Madison County, about 50 community members came to speak about their sheriff’s office’s contract with Flock during the public comment period of a Board of Commissioners meeting in June. Madison is a mountainous county that touches the Tennessee border. It is home to the towns of Marshall, Mars Hill and Hot Springs…