Residents urge Hickory council to freeze surveillance camera funding and review ALPR contracts

Two residents used the public-comment period at the July 21 Hickory City Council meeting to urge a pause on surveillance camera funding and contracts, arguing automated license-plate readers (ALPR) and related sensor upgrades create a mass surveillance risk. Lorraine Barrett told the council the systems now in use can fuse license-plate data with Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi device signatures to create persistent, searchable location records. "This technology does not care that you are elected officials," Barrett said, warning the systems can map private meetings and "know when you get home down to the millisecond." She asked the council to "freeze all surveillance camera funding, contract renewals, and data center expansions."

Jacob Darden, a second speaker, made similar arguments and named Flock as a notable example. He told the council that continuous citywide data collection by such networks can amount to a warrantless, prolonged location-tracking capability and cited a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on prolonged location tracking in support of his concern. Darden asked the council to "prevent any new cameras immediately," thoroughly research the systems "not what you were sold," and cancel contracts that he said infringe on constitutional rights. Council allowed both commenters to continue beyond the typical three minutes; council members did not move on immediate policy changes during the meeting.