NEWTON — The Catawba County Sheriff’s Office website now points the public to a Flock Safety transparency portal for the office’s automated license-plate readers.
On the Sheriff’s Office page at catawbacountync.gov, a “Flock Transparency Portal” quicklink opens transparency.flocksafety.com/catawba-county-nc-so. The county site does not publish a camera count, launch date, or written announcement alongside the link.
Flock Safety portals used by other agencies typically summarize how many cameras an agency runs and how often the system was searched or alerted over a recent window. Catawba First News could not independently read the Sheriff’s Office portal page during this check because the site returned a bot-challenge screen, so those figures are not confirmed here. The Sheriff’s Office has not posted a separate press release about the portal on the county news page as of Monday afternoon.
Hickory Police launched its own Flock transparency portal earlier this month. License-plate cameras remain a live local issue: Newton council member Bill Powell has said he is watching Flock’s corporate side, the Town of Catawba moved to take its cameras down after declining funding, and Franklin County’s sheriff suspended that county’s Flock system after an audit flagged alleged tracking of one resident.
Source note
Tip: a local news report, Catawba County Sheriff’s Office launches online Flock Safety camera transparency portal. Primary: Catawba County Sheriff’s Office page, Flock Transparency Portal quicklink to transparency.flocksafety.com/catawba-county-nc-so (checked Sept. 28, 2026). Portal page contents not independently readable (Cloudflare challenge). Related Catawba First News: Hickory PD portal; Powell / Newton; Town of Catawba cameras; Franklin County Flock suspension.
Cover: File photo — Flock Safety license-plate reader and solar panel on a light pole; not a Catawba County Sheriff’s Office camera. Bruxton / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0.
