North Carolina SBI pushes to expand license plate camera network
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Even as a growing number of North Carolina towns end contracts with companies that provide license-plate-reading cameras, the amount of cameras using the technology could expand on state-owned roads.
Why it matters: The State Bureau of Investigation has been piloting a program to put automated license plate recognition (APLR) cameras in the rights-of-way of state roads across North Carolina for the past year.
- The SBI says the cameras are an important tool to solve crimes — but the technology has also been removed from cities in North Carolina and across the country over data privacy and mass surveillance concerns.
Driving the news: The pilot is expected to end in July, but the SBI is requesting funds from state lawmakers to extend it until 2028, create a statewide database for the cameras and hire a coordinator for the program.
- The agency is also asking lawmakers to provide grants to local agencies to buy more cameras, specifically along major interstates and highways and at all entrances to and exits from North Carolina.
Zoom in: SBI Director Chip Hawley requested the extension in a report to lawmakers last month, which was first reported by The News & Observer. The SBI has not responded to requests for comment from Axios.
- The pilot was made possible by a 2024 state law that allowed the N.C. Department of Transportation and the SBI to enter into agreements on placing ALPR cameras on state-owned roads.
- For cameras to be installed in state rights-of-way, a local law enforcement agency must participate in the SBI pilot and apply for approval from DOT.
- DOT has a separate pilot agreement with Flock for cameras on state roads — though a spokesperson for the agency said those cameras are only used for real-time updates on road conditions.
State of play: The request comes as towns like Pittsboro and Hillsborough have recently ended contracts with providers like Flock Safety, after residents expressed concerns over data privacy and mass surveillance.
- Flock Safety, which has not responded to request for comment, is one of the largest providers of ALPR cameras in North Carolina and is valued at $7.5 billion.
- The company saw dozens of contracts ended earlier this year, after residents in many cities worried the license-plate cameras could be used to help with immigration enforcement, NPR reported. Flock, for its part, said it doesn't work with ICE and that local agencies decide how to share their data.
By the numbers: In the pilot, 32 agencies participated, including the Raleigh Police Department and the N.C. State Highway Patrol.
- As of March, those agencies had installed 140 cameras in state rights-of-way, and applications for 75 more were being processed.
- The Raleigh Police Department, for instance, installed three cameras on state roads, which captured more than 14.8 million license plates. RPD declined to comment on its cameras, with a spokesperson calling it a "state initiative."
- The SBI said no data from the cameras were preserved for more than 90 days.
Between the lines: The report says the cameras helped recover dozens of stolen cars, identify a "subject on the terrorist watch list," and lead to arrests in several homicide and drug-trafficking cases.
- Still, the technology has proven controversial in many places. In Pittsboro, signs have popped up on roads pushing for the town to end a contract with Flock over mass surveillance concerns. The town ended its contract last week.
- "Public safety really matters," Pittsboro Town Commissioner John Bonitz said of his vote to end the contract, according to WCHL. "And I believe it must be balanced against privacy, property rights, local accountability, and the presumption that citizens are free unless there is individualized suspicion. Governments should not monitor innocent citizens by default."