Chuck Owenby is spying on you.

Sheriff Chuck Owenby has partnered with a 7.5 billion dollar big-tech company to install ALPR pole-cameras across the county. These AI-powered surveillance cameras take pictures of every vehicle that passes, which are then converted into searchable text and uploaded to the company's massive central database of personal information.

According to the Institute for Justice, a constitutional public-interest lawfirm, this technology empowers big-government to erode your freedoms.

We need these cameras out of our county. Here's why.

Chuck's pole-cameras are creating a database of everywhere you drive.

Chuck gives your data to over 2,000 other law enforcement agencies, including the federal government – all without your permission or a warrant. There are more government agents who can search you with these cameras than there are people living in Transylvania County.

The database can be analyzed to discover your patterns and habits, which can reveal your political views, where you work, and where you go to church.

This massive invasion of privacy is simply inconsistent with the values of the constitution.

Chuck's pole-cameras log your bumper stickers.

Artificial intelligence means the cameras can read and record bumper sticker information. This allows the government to search for people simply on the basis of their political or religious beliefs.

For example, if you have a glock sticker and a cross on your vehicle, the federal government may be able target you as an extremist. 

Chuck's pole-cameras help the deep state.

These local cameras are part of a national data network used by federal agencies such as the FBI and ATF. The deep state is not friendly to liberty. And these cameras give them a direct link into small communities and your personal information.

Chuck's pole-cameras endanger women.

The cameras can be accessed directly from an app on the officer's phone, and the only safeguard is the requirement to type in a search justification.

However, there's nothing preventing someone from giving an ambiguous or false justification. That makes it extremely easy for an officer to check up on a former girlfriend or ex-wife.

Men in the digital age are accustomed to "Facebook stalking" or scrolling through the instagram accounts of women. When those men become officers, they're handed a powerful tool to stalk those women. At the tap of their screen, they can learn who she's driving with, when she's not home, where she works, etc. 

One report of database abuses found "an Ohio officer who pleaded guilty to stalking an ex-girlfriend and who looked up information on her; a Michigan officer who looked up home addresses of women he found attractive; and two Miami-Dade officers who ran checks on a journalist after he aired unflattering stories about the department."

A recent example is a police lieutenant in Wichita, Kansas who was sentenced for using pole-cameras to stalk his estranged wife. He was only caught because he bragged about it.

There are no effective safeguards to prevent this. 

Chuck's pole-cameras create a huge legal liability for the county.

Local governments across the country are being sued over these cameras.

  • In 2020, the Contra Costa County Sheriff paid Brian Hofer $49,500 in a lawsuit.
  • In 2024, the City of Aurora Colorado paid $1.9 million in a lawsuit.
  • In 2015, the City of San Fransico paid $495,000 in a lawsuit.

There's also many pending cases challenging the cameras' fundamental constitutionality.

  • Lee Schmit, with the support of the Institute for Justice, is currently suing the city of Norfolk, Virginia for Fourth Amendment violations after it installed over 172 cameras around town.

And when lawsuits like this happen, it's you – the taxpayer – that really foots the bill.

How to get rid of these cameras.

There are a few ways that these cameras could be removed from Transylvania County.

  1. The county passes an ordinance banning pole-cameras.

  2. The county is forced to removed the cameras as part of the settlement in an inevitable lawsuit.
  3. State courts or the Supreme Court rules that pole cameras are illegal, just as they ruled against warrantless access to your cell data.
  4. The Sheriff realizes that this technology is an unconsitutional encroachment upon the rights of people he has sworn to serve.

Tell the county what you think.

Tell Chuck Owenby that you want these cameras gone: cowenby@tcsonc.org

Email the Chair of the county commissioners: Jason.chappell@transylvaniacounty.org

Further Reading