Revere, New Bedford, and Swampscott may be birds of a feather who Flock together — all three made regional headlines this week over the same automated license-plate-reader technology Malden's City Council takes up tomorrow, Tuesday, September 8. Like Boston, Malden appears to have ended up using the technology largely outside full Council review; tomorrow's meeting is the Council's first real chance to weigh in directly.
Neighbors, Same Headlines
A September 3 Boston Globe/Boston.com story reported that a Revere police officer was suspended after using Flock cameras to track an ex; the department says it will keep using the technology but is adding audit features and updated use policies.1
Swampscott doesn't own Flock cameras itself, but a Swampscott officer was placed on paid administrative leave after the department was alerted to possible misuse of neighboring Lynn's Flock system, which Swampscott accesses through a partner-community agreement. The department has paused that access pending a review of its own policies, permissions, and training.2
New Bedford's City Council voted unanimously in late August on four motions after Police Chief Jason Thody suspended the department's roughly 20 Flock cameras — an officer there was accused of using the system to track a former partner. The motions ask that the cameras be removed or covered while a review is underway, and send the question of whether to restrict or abolish the technology outright to the ordinance committee.3
In Boston, a separate dispute is playing out over process rather than misuse: after the Globe reported the Boston Police Department quietly shifted from Flock to competitors Axon and Motorola, two city councilors said they were never consulted, arguing Mayor Michelle Wu's administration should have sought Council sign-off first under a 2022 surveillance-technology ordinance.4
A Court Order, Too
Two days before the Globe's Revere story, a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled against the Massachusetts State Police in a public-records case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. In a September 2 memorandum and order, Judge Keren E. Goldenberg allowed the ACLU's motion for summary judgment and denied the State Police's cross-motion, ordering the agency to disclose the locations of its license-plate-reader cameras and its database access and audit records — information the State Police had withheld.56
Malden's Turn
Two Malden city councillors want a full accounting of the city's Flock Safety camera program -- every contract, exhibit, amendment, renewal, purchase order, policy, and related agreement the city has on file.
