The debate over Flock surveillance cameras is spreading across Massachusetts, with communities weighing the technology’s potential to help solve crimes against growing concerns over how license plate data is collected, stored and shared.
Waltham is the latest community to pull the plug.
Waltham police told Boston 25 News the department deactivated its Flock cameras earlier this month. The cameras are still in place, however, as the city waits for the company to physically remove them.
City leaders have temporarily covered the cameras with trash bags.
More than 30 Massachusetts communities are now debating what to do with Flock cameras.
State lawmakers push for new Flock rules
State Rep. Adam Scanlon, D-Bristol, says he plans to file legislation with State Rep. Marcus Vaughn that would establish statewide guidelines for automatic license plate readers.
The goal, Scanlon said, is to address concerns surrounding how the data is handled.
“To address data retention policies, to address who can access the data, and really get companies like Flock essentially and the practices they use out of Massachusetts,” Scanlon said.
Scanlon said the legislation is intended to attract bipartisan support and create consistent standards across Massachusetts.
He said lawmakers want stronger accountability, auditing and safeguards to prevent license plate data from being improperly accessed by people in other communities.
“We want to ensure that these tools are not being abused through our statewide standards across the board,” Scanlon said.
Why are communities turning against Flock?
Flock cameras use automatic license plate recognition technology to capture information about vehicles and can help police identify vehicles connected to crimes.
Law enforcement expert Todd McGhee said the technology can be useful when police are investigating crimes or searching for missing people.
“It actually works, it does exactly what it claims to do,” McGhee said.
But McGhee said the biggest concerns now center on what happens to the information after it is collected.
“The rising concern is over the governance of the actual data,” he said. “Things like access to the data, is the data shared? If the data is shared, who’s it shared with?”
McGhee said the growing number of communities reconsidering Flock is prompting police departments to take a closer look at their own policies and agreements.
Boston ended its Flock trial
Boston also raised concerns about data sharing after conducting a trial run with Flock last year.
The City of Boston and Boston Police Department said in a joint statement that “a Flock data-sharing function had been enabled despite a contractual agreement prohibiting its use.”
According to the city and BPD, police immediately directed the vendor to disable the function.
Boston has since ended its use of Flock and said it does not plan to use the company’s services going forward.
The city does still use automatic license plate readers from other companies, including Motorola.
Boston City Councilors are now looking more closely at how those systems operate and whether changes are needed.
What happens next?
Scanlon said the proposed legislation would focus on statewide standards for automatic license plate readers, including data retention, access, auditing and accountability.
Meanwhile, communities across Massachusetts continue to make their own decisions about whether to keep, deactivate or remove Flock cameras.
Boston 25 News reached out to Flock Safety for comment but has not received a response.
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