Records Requests

On June 29, 2026 an attorney with Rice Law PLLC sent Demand for Compliance Letters to Madison County and the Madison County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) on behalf of two Madison County residents.

When a government agency won't produce its surveillance records or contracts, it raises important questions about public accountability.

The demand letters follow two North Carolina Public Records Act requests submitted by residents on February 24, 2026 and April 3, 2026. These residents submitted model public records requests, asking for documents that are very clearly public records like contracts, invoices, policies, network share settings, and audit logs for ALPR Surveillance cameras.

To this date, only one of the requested items, payment invoices, has been provided in full. For several months, MCSO has told these residents that they were "not the holder of these records" and that they "were not required to create records that did not exist". They even tried to answer a request for its own Flock Organization Audit and Network Audit by sending a Flock marketing document and a link to a generic public “eyesonflock” page, which is not the agency’s own audit data.

The demand letters require Madison County and MCSO to, within 14 calendar days, either: Produce the requested public records,
Certify after a documented search that no responsive records exist, or Cite the specific legal authority for withholding any records.
With the permission of the two Madison County residents they represent, Rice Law has published the demand letters with the clients' names redacted.

Read the demand letters here:

https://deflockilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/madison-county-alpr-contract-records-demand.pdfhttps://deflockilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/madison-county-flock-audit-records-demand.pdf

Public records belong to the public. Transparency and accountability matter, especially when government agencies deploy surveillance technology in our communities.