What are license plate readers?
Automated license plate readers, often called ALPRs, photograph passing vehicles. The system reads the plate and saves the image with the date, time and camera location. Flock also identifies vehicle details such as make, model, color and distinguishing features. A car can be recorded whether or not its driver is suspected of doing anything wrong. How license plate readers work — EFF (opens in a new tab)
Each record shows where and when a vehicle passed a camera. Police can search these records to track where that vehicle has traveled. North Carolina law prohibits using ALPR data to enforce traffic violations. Read the state law (opens in a new tab)
What do we know about Surry County?
The county's Flock records list nine cameras: eight Falcon readers and one Falcon Flex. Surry has paid Flock nearly $65,000 so far: $34,989 for year one, $29,425 for year two and $535 for a repair. The public records also include invoices, a use policy and audit exports. You can read those documents, the state law and the sources behind this explanation on the Evidence page.
See the county records
What can the software do?
Flock can search for a vehicle by its plate number or by details such as make, model, color, bumper stickers, visible damage, and whether the plate is missing or covered. A readable plate number isn’t always needed to find a vehicle. The county’s Flock purchase documents specifically include searches by make, type, color, bumper stickers, roof racks and missing or covered plates. Local search features, purchase document page 4 (opens in a new tab) Vehicle details and tracking — EFF (opens in a new tab) · Beyond license plates — ACLU report (opens in a new tab)
Police can search records of where your car has been spotted to trace your trips. Patterns in those records can reveal where you live, work, worship or take your children to school. When agencies share access, police can also search camera records from outside their own jurisdiction. Tracking movements and sharing records — EFF (opens in a new tab)
Surry’s camera records are open to agencies far beyond the county. In the 12 months ending August 24, 2026, more than 4,800 outside agencies ran more than 13 million searches that included Surry County’s camera network. The Sheriff’s Office ran 5,834 searches of its own. See the audit counts
Flock’s optional Enhanced LPR package adds Multi-Geo Search, which finds vehicles seen at selected places and times, and Convoy Search, which looks for vehicles traveling together. These tools can expose patterns and possible associations between vehicles. How these searches work — EFF court brief (opens in a new tab)
Flock also holds a patent describing facial-recognition searches across a network of cameras. One example matches a person seen in store-camera footage with footage from home-security cameras. Flock currently says FreeForm does not use facial or biometric recognition. The patent describes a surveillance design that reaches beyond license plates. It does not establish that facial recognition is being used in Surry County, but it raises serious questions about future expansion. Flock’s facial-search patent (opens in a new tab)
