AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n
Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Since last September, the NC State Bureau of Investigation has had the ability to keep a watchful eye over customers at Lowe\u2019s and possibly Home Depot stores across the state, using a network of cameras that capture detailed images of vehicles passing through.<\/p>\n Read more Hurricanes, Golden Knights are rewriting NHL record book. Here\u2019s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n According to records obtained by The News & Observer, Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based company providing the tech, reached out to the SBI in July last year, offering to provide access to data from its cameras at the hardware stores.<\/p>\n SBI officials accepted the Lowe\u2019s offer, which included access to cameras in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, records show. The documents do not say if Home Depot cameras are also covered by the agreement.<\/p>\n In North Carolina, local leaders have started turning away from contracts with automatic license plate reader vendors, citing intense public backlash. But state officials are working to expand the network to \u201call entrances and exits\u201d to the state, The N&O has reported.<\/a><\/p>\n Nationally, the hardware store chains have played a key role in the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement crackdown.<\/p>\n A top Trump official named Home Depot specifically as a location to target suspected undocumented workers, The Wall Street Journal reported last year. And a New York City comptroller called on Lowe\u2019s to conduct an independent \u201chuman rights risk assessment\u201d of the company\u2019s partnership with Flock, in part because of rhetoric from Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project<\/a>, said allowing law enforcement access to privately-owned Flock cameras \u201csupercharges the system.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt allows law enforcement to piggyback on private investments in ways that their own budgets may never allow for,\u201d Stanley said in an interview with The N&O. \u201cIt just intensifies the mass surveillance system that companies like Flock are already building.\u201d<\/p>\n The N&O reached out to Flock and Lowe\u2019s to see how many cameras have been installed across the region, but has not received a response. SBI officials declined to comment on this story and directed The N&O to a report sent to a state legislative committee earlier this year.<\/p>\n Once Flock informed state officials the company would act as a go-between to get access to Lowe\u2019s cameras, it was just over a month before the agency accepted the offer.<\/p>\n The information captured by the cameras would only be used by the SBI \u201cfor bona fide investigations,\u201d SBI Director Chip Hawley said in an August 2025 email to the company.<\/p>\n Todd Isenhour, Lowe\u2019s senior director of investigations and fraud prevention, approved the data-sharing agreement in early September 2025, records show.<\/p>\n \u201cI have the ability to provide larger \u2018search\u2019 areas,\u201d Isenhour said in the email to Hawley. \u201cI went ahead and approved that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n A Flock representative informed SBI officials that they\u2019d gained access to cameras at \u201call Lowe\u2019s stores in NC, SC and VA,\u201d according to an email reviewed by The N&O.<\/p>\n Read more Oracle’s cloud pivot remains a high-risk bet<\/a><\/p>\n ACLU of Virginia Policy Director Chris Kaiser said Flock\u2019s help in getting the SBI access to cameras outside the state is \u201cdeeply concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFlock appears to be circumventing safeguards our bipartisan legislature and former governor put in place to restrict out-of-state interests from accessing Virginians\u2019 sensitive personal information,\u201d Kaiser said in a statement to The N&O. \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: this is not about public safety. This is about private corporations trading on Virginians\u2019 privacy for their own profit.\u201d<\/p>\n Records show Flock offered the same access for its cameras owned by Home Depot, but unlike Lowe\u2019s, \u201caccess will only be granted to camera networks located within your state,\u201d the company emailed SBI officials last July. \u201cNo exceptions will be granted.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative from Home Depot told The N&O that the company does not \u201cgrant access to our license plate readers to federal law enforcement.\u201d The representative did not respond when a reporter clarified that the SBI is a state agency, and asked the company to confirm if it shared access.<\/p>\n Corporate use of Flock\u2019s technology has sparked concerns outside of North Carolina.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine sent a letter to the chair of Lowe\u2019s Sustainability Committee asking for a third-party \u201chuman rights risk assessment\u201d spurred by the company\u2019s use of Flock cameras \u2014 and what happens to the data they collect.<\/p>\n Levine, in part, oversees the New York City Retirement Systems \u201cwhich are substantial long-term Lowe\u2019s shareholders,\u201d he wrote in the letter<\/a>, and said \u201cgiven the specialized nature of these risks, an independent assessment would provide the Board with the expertise necessary to exercise effective oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese considerations have taken on added urgency in light of reported immigration enforcement actions at large retailers generally, and Lowe\u2019s specifically,\u201d Levine wrote.<\/p>\n He said public statements by Trump administration officials last year \u201cunderscore that information initially shared with local law enforcement may ultimately be accessed or used by federal immigration authorities, even when such downstream use was not the original intent.\u201d<\/p>\n Stephen Miller, a top official in the Trump administration, directed immigration agents to specifically target Lowe\u2019s competitor Home Depot, The Wall Street Journal reported last year.<\/a><\/p>\n In California, a class action lawsuit against Home Depot filed last month alleges \u201cillegal, secretive, invasive, and negligent use of\u201d Flock cameras by the company. Five plaintiffs allege their information was captured by the cameras \u2014 and that they weren\u2019t marked according to state law.<\/p>\n Had they known the company installed Flock cameras in its parking lots, they \u201cwould not have patronized the store, or would have taken meaningful steps to protect\u201d their information, the lawsuit argues.<\/p>\n