If you drive down US-441 or up the gorge road toward Highlands, you might have noticed them: small, black, solar-powered boxes sitting quietly on traffic poles. These are license plate reader cameras made by a big tech corporation named Flock Safety.
They don’t check your speed, they don’t check for semi-trucks headed up the gorge. Instead, they scan every single car that drives past, taking pictures of license plates, car colors, vanity plates, bumper stickers and car models to track driver movements.
Recently, these cameras caused a major debate in Macon County. Our five County Commissioners voted 5-0 to stop paying for the Sheriff’s Office’s 12 Flock cameras and cancel the contract as soon as possible. Yet Sheriff Brent Holbrooks still wants to keep them, arguing they help catch criminals.
To make matters worse, while local towns are fighting back, state leaders are moving in the opposite direction. Governor Josh Stein signed a new $34.4 billion state budget that includes a provision making the State Bureau of Investigation’s (NCSBI) highway license-plate reader program permanent.
This gives state authorities green light to place AI surveillance cameras along state-maintained highways and rights-of-way statewide. Providing the funding without the benefit of a statewide uniform policy on how law enforcement can access, share and use this data.
This brings up an urgent question for all of us: Is the small chance of catching a criminal worth handing our privacy over to state and corporate surveillance systems that track every innocent driver in town?
These cameras don’t just take pictures of license plates. They build a huge, searchable list of where normal, law-abiding people travel every day—turning public roads into digital checkpoints.
The problem with mass scanning
Sheriff Holbrooks and state law enforcement argue that these cameras help officers cover large rural areas and major highway corridors. They claim ALPRs are essential tools for finding stolen cars, solving drug crimes, and tracking down missing people.
While that sounds helpful, the reality is very different. Every month, the 12 cameras in Macon County scan between one million and three million license plates. Nationwide, over 99% of those scans belong to regular local citizens who have done nothing wrong—people just driving to work, picking up their kids from school, or going to church.
Tracking everyone just in case someone breaks the law is not good police work. It is dragnet tracking without a warrant.
Here are three big reasons these cameras are a bad deal for Macon County:
- Secret Contracts and Wasted Money – County Commissioner John Shearl pointed out that these cameras were originally brought into our local government under vague descriptions like “tag readers.” Over time, the cost grew to nearly $47,000 a year. That is a lot of local taxpayer money going straight to a private corporation for a project citizens never voted on.
- State Expansion and Uncontrolled Data Access – With the state budget expanding the NCSBI’s camera system across North Carolina highways, local decisions are at risk of being bypassed. While local officers say our information is safe, Flock and state networks share data across broad computer systems. Reports from around the country show that out-of-state police and even federal agencies have looked up local camera information without getting permission or a judge’s warrant. There are even reports of system data breaches that could be exploited by bad actors.
- Computers Make Dangerous Mistakes – License plate readers make mistakes all the time. Across the country, computer glitches have caused police to pull over innocent drivers at gunpoint because the camera read a number wrong or flagged the wrong car as stolen. Putting drivers in danger over a software error is unacceptable.
Hurting trust between citizens and police
Good policing in a small community like Macon County depends on trust. Deputies and residents need to respect each other and work together.
Sheriff Holbrooks has compared road cameras to security cameras inside a store. But going inside a store is a choice; driving on our public roads to live our daily lives is not. When police and state agencies use privately-owned camera networks to keep tabs on everyone, it feels like they view every driver as a potential criminal until proven innocent.
When people feel like they are always being watched, trust breaks down even further. Real safety comes from strong, transparent relationships, not from private cameras recording our every move.
How you can take action today
Our County Commissioners did the right thing by voting to stop funding these cameras. But with the state expanding NCSBI highway surveillance, we must act to keep our local privacy protected.
Here is how you can help keep Macon County free from constant watching:
- Thank Your Commissioners: Send an email to Commissioner John Shearl and the rest of the board to thank them for standing up for citizen privacy against private surveillance contracts. Encourage them to hold the line and protect Macon County residents.
- Demand Action from the Sheriff: Ask Sheriff Brent Holbrooks to respect the board’s decision, turn off or cover the remaining Flock cameras, and promise not to partner with state programs that place highway surveillance on local rights-of-way. Let the public know where the four cameras on school property are located. It is hard to understand why there are two at the roundabout between the middle school and intermediate school, but none at the High School or the Highlands or Nantahala School.
- Contact Your State Representatives: Tell our state legislators that you oppose using state budget funds to expand NCSBI mass highway surveillance and demand strict privacy protections on state roads.
- Protect Local Towns: Ask our local town councils in Franklin and Highlands to ban private ALPR cameras on municipal streets and town properties.
We can keep our community safe without giving up our rights. By turning off these cameras and opposing state highway surveillance expansion, Macon County can lead the way in showing that freedom and privacy still matter, and the 4thAmendment hasn’t changed.
