@deflockilm: To the Moore County Board of Commissioners — Nick Picerno, Jim Von Canon, John Ritter, Tom Adams, and Kurt Cook: I was born in Pinehurst. My father was Coach John Wiley Williams, Pinecrest's first athletic director. My mother, Patricia Rogers Williams, taught K-3 at Southern Pines Elementary and then gifted students across the county until she retired. I ate donuts at Rocky Quillion's before Vito, Giovanni and Franco turned it into Vito's. I rode my pony in the parades. For most of my childhood I was not Mark. I was Coach Williams' son. That had consequences. When I got my license, the worst thing a deputy could say after pulling me over was, "You're Coach Williams' son. I'm going to call him." I would have taken the ticket. That is how accountability worked in Moore County. The deputy knew you. He knew your people. He answered to the same community you did. I practice family law in Wilmington now and run DeFlockILM, a citizen campaign that started in New Hanover County and now works statewide on automated license plate readers. Nobody pays me for it. I do it because what Flock represents is foreign to the hometown I know. I grew up believing that my forefathers fought and died for the freedoms represented in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the N.C. Constitution. And law school made clear we are innocent until proven guilty and should not be treated as suspects. We don't live in China. Here is the record. Southern Pines police put Flock cameras on the road in spring 2024. The Sheriff's Office owns ten and can search twenty-three more belonging to the towns. In June, the Board of Commissioners approved a budget amendment capitalizing a two-year Flock subscription. It passed on the consent agenda, the place for routine items that need no discussion. Staff said the contract was already signed. A countywide system that logs every vehicle on Midland Road and holds the record in a private company's database was treated as routine. Then residents showed up. They filled the Senior Enrichment Center in August. They raised the Fourth Amendment, data security, and the exposure of Fort Bragg families. The board's answer was a committee, which the chairman first proposed holding in private. Funding first, without debate. Study second, only after people objected. That is backwards. The hearing belongs before the contract. The board can still get this right. Publish the full contract and the search logs. Keep every committee meeting public. Set a date for an up-or-down vote on whether the cameras stay. Chairman Picerno said he would vote to remove them if residents' concerns prove out. The residents have done their part. The deputy who stopped me when I was seventeen knew who he answered to. The board should too. Respectfully, Mark Spencer Williams Wilmington · DeFlockILM.org #Flock #ALPR #MooreCounty #Pinehurst #SouthernPines

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Friday 23 October 2026 01:56:36 GMT