A public meeting in Madison County, North Carolina, drew objections this week over limits on public comment. The dispute centered on Flock license plate reader technology.
Chairman Michael Garrison asked how many attendees there were to discuss Flock. Nearly all raised their hands. Garrison then invoked county policy requiring a single spokesperson.
“What? No. We all want to speak on this,” one attendee responded. Garrison replied, “You will not speak on Flock tonight. One person designated.”
Residents said they were individuals with different concerns. Commissioners said they constituted a group and allowed one representative to speak for seven minutes. One resident told the board, “So you’re going to decide to not listen to your citizens, that’s what you’re saying.”
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office has used Flock since at least March, according to a Facebook post cited in the report. The system records the time and location of passing vehicles.
Garrison said the Board of Commissioners does not own, operate or oversee the cameras. He said the board provides funding, but the sheriff decides how it is spent.
A resident later criticized what she described as a lack of transparency surrounding public records requests. She also renewed calls for a dedicated public meeting on the issue. Questions over oversight of the surveillance program remain unresolved.
Public Reaction to Madison County Flock Camera Meeting
The dispute over public comment rules continued to draw discussion after the meeting.
One user wrote, “Authoritarianism at every level.”
Another said, “They really believe they are the authority on what can and can not be said. Someone should have stood up and told him to resign immediately if he’s refusing to do their job.”
A separate response focused on the number of residents seeking to speak, “Yeah it sounds like there’s an awful lot of them…”
Another commenter wrote, “Oh. Im not here to speak on the flock cameras, im here to speak on the value of privacy. Guy behind me? He wants to talk about government overreach. Lady behind him wants to talk about how easy it is to recall a politician…..”
Whether residents will be given another opportunity to address commissioners individually about Flock cameras remains unresolved.
