Oconee County, S.C., council votes 4-1 to restrict mass-surveillance license plate readers

Event: January 1, 2025 · First reported: September 17, 2026 · 1 source

The Oconee County Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to adopt an amended ordinance limiting the use of county funds and infrastructure for license plate reader systems that build searchable, networked records of vehicle movements. The amendment directs the county administrator to notify Flock in writing to remove all county-funded cameras within 14 days, with the cameras to be covered until removal. The ordinance does not ban all plate readers: basic readers and hotlist alerts remain permitted, as are systems whose searchable data requires prior judicial authorization. The county currently shares and receives Flock data with other agencies, including the Clemson City Police Department, and no council member responded to The Tiger's questions about what happens to already-collected data.

Why this matters

Oconee is described as the first county in South Carolina to limit plate reader technology, and its ordinance offers other jurisdictions a template that distinguishes targeted observation from bulk, networked data retention rather than banning the technology outright.

Key facts

Vote was 4-1 on the amended ordinance, following two prior readings that also passed 4-1.
Amendment requires written notice to Flock to remove county-funded cameras within 14 days, with cameras covered in the interim.
The ordinance restricts county funding and infrastructure for systems with searchable histories, cross-location tracking, external data sharing, facial recognition, or merging with commercial and social media data.
Council chairman Matthew Durham framed the measure around Fourth Amendment protections; the Oconee County Sheriff's Office cited the Darrell Brooks case as evidence of the cameras' investigative value.
Sheriff Mike Crenshaw said at a July 21 public hearing that he had disciplined an officer for improper system use; separately, two Greer, S.C., officers were fired over searches on people not under investigation.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

Oconee County votes to restrict Flock surveillance cameras, affecting Clemson data sharing (thetigercu.com, September 17, 2026)

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About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated September 18, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.