On Tuesday, Aug. 25, Asheville City Council voted 5–2 to terminate the city's contract with Flock Safety, the company behind the license plate cameras that have gone up in cities across the country. By the next day, Asheville police no longer had access to the Flock system.
That settles the contract. It doesn't settle the data. Who searched the plate reads already collected, and what happens to them now? Here's what the city decided, and how residents can get answers in writing.
What happened
On Aug. 19, Mayor Esther Manheimer called on the city to turn off the cameras and remove them. She said a moratorium wasn't enough because the contract didn't allow the technology to be removed unless the city terminated it, and she called for a transparent policy on how already-collected data would be handled and deleted.
On Aug. 25, council voted 5–2 to end the contract, with council members Antanette Mosley and Sheneika Smith voting no. According to WHQR, the contract was worth nearly $73,000 and was set to run through January 2027. The vote ended the Flock contract, not plate reader technology in general: council asked staff to study license plate readers further, and council member Bo Hess argued they serve legitimate public safety purposes such as tracking stolen vehicles.
The resolution, as reported by FOX Carolina, directs removal of all Flock hardware, requires city employees to suspend all access, searching and sharing of Flock data, and says existing data must be handled according to legal and retention requirements. WLOS reported that the concerns behind the vote included privacy, data sharing, and recent misuse cases in other North Carolina and South Carolina jurisdictions.
The city's contract covered 11 cameras. Police lost access to the software on Aug. 26, and the city manager said staff would look into covering the lenses until the equipment is removed. Flock cameras in city limits that the city doesn't operate will keep running; WHQR counted 86 across various entities in Buncombe County.
What these cameras collect
Flock cameras photograph passing vehicles and log the plate number, time and location, plus details like make, color and vehicle type. Those records go into a searchable system that, depending on sharing settings, officers at many other agencies can query. Retention depends on the contract and state law. North Carolina sets a ceiling: captured plate data can't be kept more than 90 days unless it's preserved for an investigation or under a warrant.
Want the short version to keep? Get the free Flock Camera Field Guide.
If you live in Asheville
North Carolina's Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. ch. 132) lets anyone request city records. Under G.S. 132-6, you don't have to say why you want them, and the city must provide copies "as promptly as possible." Put your request in writing so you have a dated record.
1. Searches involving your plate
Set expectations first. State law makes captured plate data confidential and not a public record (G.S. 20-183.32), so a request for the raw camera reads of your car will likely be denied. The audit trail is a different record: it shows who searched the system, when, and the reason entered. Ask for:
- Any Flock audit or search log entries where your plate number was the search term, from the start of the contract through termination.
- A list of outside agencies that had access to Asheville's Flock data, and when.
If the city withholds something, ask it to name the specific law it's relying on.
2. The contract, policy and audit records
- The Flock contract, any amendments, and the termination notice.
- APD's written plate reader policy. G.S. 20-183.31 requires one, covering retention, sharing, and "annual or more frequent auditing and reporting" of system use. Ask for those reports too.
- Any data-sharing agreements or settings showing which outside agencies could search Asheville's data.
3. Ask whether the data was actually deleted
"Handled according to legal and retention requirements" isn't the same as "deleted." Ask the city in writing: Has all Asheville data held by Flock been deleted, and on what date? Was anything preserved, and under what authority? Ask the city to get written confirmation of deletion from Flock and share it.
If your city still has them
- Find the staff report. Search your council's agenda archive for "Flock," "license plate" or "ALPR." The original approval usually lists cost, camera count and term.
- Send written questions to your council member and police chief about retention, sharing settings, outside searches and audit results.
- Speak at public comment. Bring specific facts and one clear ask: a pause, a public audit, or a council vote before renewal.
- Build a coalition. Plate tracking worries people across the political spectrum, and councils notice.
Leave the cameras themselves alone. Tampering is a crime, and it gives the vendor the story it wants. The wins are coming from council votes.
Going further
Ghost Protocol ($19.99) is our field guide and toolkit for dealing with plate readers. If you're organizing against a contract where you live, the Organizer Kit is built for that. And if you'd rather not draft the requests above from scratch, start with the $9 Records Request Letter Pack.
Before your own council takes this up: Get the free Flock Camera Field Guide.
General information, not legal advice. Laws vary by state; verify current law where you live.
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