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License-plate readers · Norfolk County

Norfolk County

Using license-plate readers · 9 agencies documented

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Bellingham Police Department

Status
Ended or removed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
Contract
Flock Safety: · to Sept. 4, 2026 · Not renewed. (The Boston Globe, Aug. 26, 2026)
  1. Aug. 26, 2026 Police chief announced the department would not renew its Flock contract, citing pricing and transparency. (The Boston Globe, Aug. 26, 2026)

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Braintree Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
  1. July 2025 Named in an ACLU of Massachusetts list, reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025. (Boston 25 News, Oct. 21, 2025)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Vendor not specified in the list.
  • Listed as unconfirmed: the only source is an ACLU of Massachusetts list, as reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025; no agency record of current use was found.

Secondhand report; not yet confirmed with the agency.

Franklin Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
  1. July 2025 Named in an ACLU of Massachusetts list, reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025. (Boston 25 News, Oct. 21, 2025)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Vendor not specified in the list.
  • Listed as unconfirmed: the only source is an ACLU of Massachusetts list, as reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025; no agency record of current use was found.

Secondhand report; not yet confirmed with the agency.

Milton Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
  1. July 2025 Named in an ACLU of Massachusetts list, reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025. (Boston 25 News, Oct. 21, 2025)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Vendor not specified in the list.
  • Listed as unconfirmed: the only source is an ACLU of Massachusetts list, as reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025; no agency record of current use was found.

Secondhand report; not yet confirmed with the agency.

Quincy Police Department

Status
Use suspended
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed. WHDH reported more than 700,000 plates captured over a few weeks, with fewer than 200 investigated.
  1. Aug. 2026 A compliance audit found the department was part of nationwide sharing; access was then limited to the department's 47 investigators, per the police chief. (Boston 25 News, Sept. 9, 2026)
  2. Sept. 2026 City leaders voted to table Flock camera discussions to a later date; no vote count reported. (WHDH 7News, Sept. 9, 2026)
  3. Oct. 6, 2026 City Council scheduled discussion of the cameras and invited the police chief to explain their use. (Boston 25 News, Oct. 6, 2026)
  4. Oct. 19, 2026 Council took up two proposals: one adding oversight and transparency, and one ending the city's Flock contracts and removing the cameras. Outcome not found. (Boston 25 News, Oct. 19, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Audit month is relative: the Sept. 9, 2026 story says it was 'just last month.'
  • Tabling vote date not given; reported Sept. 9, 2026.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Sharon Police Department

Status
Ended or removed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
Contract
Flock Safety: · from Sept. 12, 2025 · to Sept. 12, 2026 · Not renewed. (Town of Sharon, MA, Sept. 3, 2026)
  1. June 23, 2026 Select Board voted unanimously to tell Flock the town would end its contract before Sept. 12, 2026. (Town of Sharon, MA, Sept. 3, 2026)
  2. Sept. 2026 The town said Flock crews had started taking down the cameras and related hardware. (Town of Sharon, MA, Sept. 3, 2026)

From agency records.

Stoughton Police Department

Status
Ended or removed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
  1. Sept. 2026 The acting police chief said every Flock camera in town would come down by Oct. 1, with town workers set to start covering them with bags on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (reported Sept. 9, 2026). (WHDH 7News, Sept. 9, 2026; Boston 25 News, Sept. 9, 2026)

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Wellesley Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
1
One pole-mounted Flock reader at Route 9 East and Route 16.
Contract
Flock Safety: year · from May 2025 · to May 2027 · Camera paid for with asset forfeiture money; Flock charges for hardware plus a yearly subscription. Trial began May 2025 and is planned to end May 2027. (The Swellesley Report, Aug. 5, 2026)
  1. May 2025 Police began a one-camera Flock trial planned to run until May 2027. (The Swellesley Report, Aug. 5, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Boston 25 (Sept. 17, 2026) lists Wellesley among communities that ended or declined to renew Flock agreements in 2026, with no detail; this conflicts with the Aug. 2026 local report of an ongoing trial.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Weymouth Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
  1. July 2025 Named in an ACLU of Massachusetts list, reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025. (Boston 25 News, Oct. 21, 2025)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Vendor not specified in the list.
  • Listed as unconfirmed: the only source is an ACLU of Massachusetts list, as reported by Boston 25, of departments using Flock or other plate readers as of July 2025; no agency record of current use was found.

Secondhand report; not yet confirmed with the agency.

Statewide

  1. Jan. 14, 2015 Sen. Cynthia Creem filed S.1817 in the 2015-2016 session to regulate automatic license plate reader systems, including a 14-day deletion requirement and annual reporting; it was referred to the Transportation committee. A similar bill (S.1648) had been filed in 2013-2014. (Massachusetts Legislature, Jan. 14, 2015)
  2. Jan. 14, 2025 Rep. Steven Owens (D-Watertown) filed H.3755, "An Act establishing driver privacy protections," with Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa added on Jan. 21, 2025. The bill would create a new Chapter 90K limiting government ALPR use: 14-day retention unless tied to a specific criminal investigation, a warrant to reach other entities' ALPR data, no sharing except in judicial proceedings, and no use to track constitutionally protected activity. (Legiplex (Massachusetts Legislature bill record), Feb. 27, 2025; NBC Boston / State House News Service, Sept. 9, 2026)
  3. Oct. 7, 2025 The ACLU of Massachusetts published network audits and contract records it obtained through public records requests to nearly 80 police departments, reporting that Massachusetts police spent over $2 million on Flock technology over three years and that out-of-state agencies searched data from Massachusetts departments. An update on Feb. 26, 2026 said more than 80 Massachusetts police departments have Flock contracts. (ACLU of Massachusetts, Data for Justice Project, Oct. 7, 2025)
  4. Jan. 2026 The ACLU of Massachusetts sent a letter to municipal leaders whose police use Flock or another plate-reader vendor, asking them within 30 days to confirm their vendor, obtain settings and contract terms, disable sharing outside Massachusetts, and end contracts where outside sharing cannot be stopped. (ACLU of Massachusetts, Jan. 1, 2026)
  5. March 2026 The Joint Committee on Transportation endorsed H.3755 on an 11-0 vote, after which the bill went to House Ways and Means, where it remained as of September 2026. Its sponsor said he expects to refile a revised version next session. (NBC Boston / State House News Service, Sept. 9, 2026; The New Bedford Light / State House News Service, Sept. 10, 2026)
  6. Sept. 2026 Gov. Maura Healey's office referred questions on plate readers to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, whose spokesperson said the office supports appropriate safeguards and will keep monitoring the issue; no executive action was described. A six-member conference committee was working on data privacy legislation (S.2619 / H.5479), which the H.3755 sponsor said may affect ALPR data. (The New Bedford Light / State House News Service, Sept. 10, 2026; NBC Boston / State House News Service, Sept. 9, 2026)
  7. Sept. 2026 The ACLU of Massachusetts said 25 Massachusetts municipalities had canceled Flock contracts or ended pilots over the preceding 18 months. (NBC Boston / State House News Service, Sept. 9, 2026)
  8. Sept. 16, 2026 Rep. Adam Scanlon (D-Bristol) said he plans to file legislation with Rep. Marcus Vaughn setting statewide standards for plate readers, covering data retention, access rules, and auditing. No bill number was given. (Boston 25 News, Sept. 16, 2026)

State agencies

Massachusetts State Police

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Motorola Solutions
Cameras
Count not documented
No count disclosed.
  1. 2020 In 2020, State Police stopped using a plate-reader surveillance system after finding that a glitch had been recording inaccurate data for more than five years, according to MassLive's 2023 reporting. In that same reporting, a State Police spokesperson named Neology as a technology company the agency uses. (MassLive (via Government Technology), Oct. 17, 2023)
  2. 2025 During Boston's 2025 Flock trial, the State Police submitted 2 of the 15 requests to add plates to the Boston system's hot list. (City of Boston, Sept. 15, 2026)
  3. Oct. 7, 2025 The ACLU of Massachusetts reported that the State Police have contracts with Vigilant Solutions, a plate-reader data company. (ACLU of Massachusetts, Data for Justice Project, Oct. 7, 2025)
  4. Sept. 2026 A state public safety spokesperson told the Globe that the State Police do not use Flock Safety cameras. (The Boston Globe, Sept. 2, 2026)
  5. Sept. 4, 2026 In a statement, the State Police said fewer than 2% of members can query ALPR data, that each query requires a case number or reference, a reason, a time period and a geographic area, that users must complete privacy training, and that queries are monitored and audited. (The New Bedford Light / State House News Service, Sept. 10, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Vendor: a State Police spokesperson named Neology in 2023 reporting; in 2025 the ACLU of Massachusetts named Vigilant Solutions, a Motorola Solutions company.
  • The 2020 date is year-only; the source gives no month.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.