The Daily Tar Heel reported that over 3,600 automated license plate readers are active across North Carolina, with roughly 80 to 85 percent supplied by Flock Safety. They sit on public roads, neighborhood entrances and state highways.
The cameras are not all the same product. Flock's units record more than plate numbers, cataloging make, model, color and other visual features of each vehicle. Whether one department can search another's data depends on whether it opts in to sharing. You can see where these cameras are on the camera map, and how plate readers work explains the basics.
Where are license plate readers in North Carolina?
- Over 3,600 readers are active statewide, roughly 80 to 85 percent from Flock Safety.
- UNC has 23 Flock cameras on major campus roads.
- Lowe's operates a total of 112 ALPRs across the state.
- The state's pilot program is now permanent. It authorizes the SBI and local agencies to install ALPRs on any state-maintained road or highway right-of-way, which make up 78 percent of the state's roadways.
What are North Carolina's plate reader rules?
Under state law, ALPR data can be kept for up to 90 days. Only law enforcement agencies may operate these systems, and they must use them for defined purposes such as criminal investigations and locating missing persons.
The law separates who operates a system from who owns the cameras that feed a police network. That gap is how homeowners' associations and private businesses have put cameras in place.
Each agency in the state pilot must write its own policy, but the state sets no uniform baselines. Of the 32 agencies in the pilot, only Asheville and Raleigh police address using readers to surveil political rallies, religious gatherings or protests, according to records obtained by WRAL. The other 30 have no such language.
What changes for drivers?
A city that ends its contract removes that agency's cameras. Cameras run by a neighboring city, the county, the state, a business or an HOA stay where they are. A city decision does not touch them.
Some local rules are narrower than they sound. Atkinson, in Pender County, adopted North Carolina's first Flock camera ban in October, through an ordinance prohibiting ALPR cameras within its corporate limits.
What should residents ask?
- Which agency owns each camera near me, and does it share data with other departments?
- What retention period does the agency's written policy set?
- Has an internal audit found misuse, and what changed afterward?
- Who is allowed to run searches, and are they reviewed?
The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office overhauled its Flock policy after a former deputy was arrested for allegedly misusing an ALPR system. Flock also announced in August that it would cut default retention from 30 days to seven, though agencies can keep specific data for investigations.
The UNC System's new ALPR policy takes effect Dec. 1, 2026. It requires regular inspections of ALPR use and storage of data for no more than 30 days.