Commissioners order bags to cover FLOCK cameras in Davidson County
Davidson County commissioners vote to bag Flock cameras after learning shutdown wasn't complete
Flock Cameras were still in operation after commissioners voted to terminate the contract. When Davidson County commissioners voted unanimously Aug. 24 to end the county's contract with Flock Safety, they expected the sheriff's 25 license plate cameras to go dark the next day and come down within 30 days.
Seven weeks later, the cameras are still on their poles, and they were not shut off the way commissioners believed.
On Monday night, the board answered with a blunt fix: it voted unanimously to cover the cameras with bags until they are taken down for good. Commissioner Kester made the motion, a move that showed how little faith the board now has in the company.
The point, commissioners said, is that residents shouldn't have to take anyone's word for it. A driver passing a bagged camera can see for themselves that it isn't recording.
What the board heard
The vote came on the board's Oct. 12 agenda, a follow-up on dismantling the Flock system. County Attorney Jones told commissioners the contract has been terminated, the county's access to the system has been cut off, and decommissioning of the cameras is underway. One commissioner thanked Jones for his work before the board moved to act. Commissioner Tripp Kester led the discussion by saying that his trust in the Flock company is “Zero.”
How we got here
Commissioners approved funding for 25 Flock cameras for the Davidson County Sheriff's Office in fall 2024, and they went up in 2025: 23 fixed cameras on roadside poles and two mobile units. Neither the sheriff's office nor the county announced the rollout, saying publicity could tip off criminals or invite vandalism. The first year cost about $90,750 in federal forfeiture money, with about $76,000 a year budgeted after that.
Public pushback grew this summer after Davidson County resident Mary Todd Boone posted a series of widely viewed videos questioning the cameras used by the sheriff's office and the Lexington and Thomasville police departments. Ahead of an Aug. 24 public hearing, the sheriff's office released a statement of more than seven pages defending the program and saying its audits found no misuse by deputies.
Sheriff Richie Simmons told the board the system had helped find missing children, recover stolen property and catch a Georgia homicide suspect who passed through the county. Commissioners said they trusted the sheriff but worried about future misuse; Commissioner Chris Elliott noted that anybody can be elected in and things can change. After hearing public comment against the cameras, the board voted to remove them.
The board voted unanimously to end the program. It directed a Flock representative at the meeting to deactivate the cameras, and Commissioner Todd Yates said they would need to be physically removed within the 30-day termination window, a deadline that would have fallen in late September. The board also permitted Simmons redirect the roughly $76,000 to a mobile command unit for first responders.
Davidson County is one of a growing number of North Carolina communities dropping Flock. Removal has lagged elsewhere too: in New Hanover County, where Flock owns the leased cameras and handles taking them down, the company said in September that removal could take two months after the county's vote.
