{"id":264595,"date":"2026-06-04T19:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T23:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/license-plate-readers-spread-across-southeastern-nc-as-privacy-debate-grows\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T01:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T05:45:13","slug":"license-plate-readers-spread-across-southeastern-nc-as-privacy-debate-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/license-plate-readers-spread-across-southeastern-nc-as-privacy-debate-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"License Plate Readers Spread Across Southeastern NC as Privacy Debate Grows"},"content":{"rendered":"

License Plate Readers Spread Across Southeastern NC as Privacy Debate Grows<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/foxy99.com\/2026\/06\/04\/license-plate-readers-spread-across-southeastern-nc-as-privacy-debate-grows\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-04 19:21:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: foxy99.com<\/a><\/p>\n

License plate readers now dot every county in southeastern North Carolina. Law enforcement has poured hundreds of thousands into this tracking system. The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office alone spent $219,000 on a deal with Flock Safety, the private firm behind these cameras.<\/p>\n

Each passing car triggers a snapshot of its plate. Images are uploaded to servers, sitting there for 30 days minimum. Officers punch in a plate number, make, or paint job\u2014boom, they’ve got every spot that car hit during that stretch.<\/p>\n

Sheriff’s offices in New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, and Columbus counties all run Flock contracts, while the Wilmington Police Department stays out of it, according to city officials.<\/p>\n

DeFlock, a group fighting these cameras nationwide, built a map pinpointing readers across the area using tips from regular people. Mark Williams works as an attorney in Wilmington and fights against the cameras through DeFlock.<\/p>\n

“I believe in freedom. I didn’t sign up to live in China. And I don’t want the government watching me,” Williams said, according to WECT.<\/p>\n

Sheriff’s departments call these readers crime-solving gear. Columbus County runs six cameras hunting for hot cars, lost people, and suspects on the run.<\/p>\n

Paris Lewbel speaks for Flock Safety. She says cameras aided over a million criminal probes across America last year, tackling everything from break-ins to killings to vanished children.<\/p>\n

“That’s a staggering number, and it shows the technology is really working in helping bring victims justice and solve crimes,” Lewbel said.<\/p>\n

Back in March, Whiteville Police Chief Paul Rockenbach credited plate readers for cracking a murder. On March 5, a camera flagged a car tied to someone the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office wanted.<\/p>\n

“I’m excited to know that we can put technology out there that is going to help keep our community safer,” Chief Rockenbach said.<\/p>\n

Lewbel claims Flock never touches captured records, putting sharing choices in customers’ hands. Which agencies get access to…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

License Plate Readers Spread Across Southeastern NC as Privacy Debate Grows https:\/\/foxy99.com\/2026\/06\/04\/license-plate-readers-spread-across-southeastern-nc-as-privacy-debate-grows\/ Publish Date: 2026-06-04…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":264596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/foxy99.com\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-1436492359.jpg?auto=webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-264595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy","tag-tracking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264597,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264595\/revisions\/264597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}