Anderson County Council unanimously approved on second reading Tuesday a measure that would bar the county from using Flock surveillance cameras, automated license plate readers and related technology — a vote that follows months of regional debate over privacy, data access and law-enforcement use of the systems. The measure still needs a public hearing and a third reading before it can take effect.
According to the Anderson Observer, the county’s contracts covering 10 cameras stationed at boat ramps and parks have already expired or are about to, and the county does not plan to renew them. Councilman Greg Elgin told fellow council members that some of those cameras have already been shut down. As reported by FOX Carolina News, the proposed ordinance would end the county’s contract with Flock altogether and ban the cameras from being used on county property.
Sheriff Signals Support as Scope of the Ban Takes Shape
Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride favors the ban, the outlet’s reporting states. The Sheriff’s Office does not operate any Flock cameras on county roadways, though some units in the area are owned by homeowners’ associations and businesses, including Lowe’s, according to the same account. Under the proposed language, council-appropriated funds could no longer be used to purchase, lease, install, operate, maintain or access systems running on the Flock Safety platform, a restriction that would extend to cameras, license plate readers, software, databases, subscriptions and related services, the Anderson Observer’s earlier report on the measure notes.
Importantly, the ordinance would not undo agreements already in place before it takes effect, and advancing past second reading does not make it law — a hearing and third reading still stand between the county and a final ban.
Conflicting Camera Counts Muddy the Picture
Exactly how many Flock cameras operate in Anderson County depends on who’s counting. One Anderson Observer report put the county’s current total at 21 cameras in operation, while The State reported that the tracking site DeFlocksc.org listed 10 cameras specifically in Anderson County. Those figures sit alongside separate data from the Atlas of Surveillance, which recorded the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office running 10 Flock readers and the Anderson Police Department running 22 as of September 2025 — numbers that cover different agencies and may not be directly comparable to the council’s county-level count…