Haverhill residents packed a City Council subcommittee meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12, to press for a required council vote on any new police surveillance technology.[1] The meeting came a week after the city decided to cancel its contract for Flock cameras, the automated license plate readers made by Flock Safety.[1] In Lowell, opponents filed an open meeting law complaint over a closed-door vote that turned the cameras back on.[2]
Related: Lowell Minutes Show 8-1 Closed-Door Vote to Turn Flock Cameras Back On After Public 6-5 Suspension.
Haverhill residents ask for a say
The Haverhill City Council’s Public Safety Subcommittee heard from residents on Thursday.[1] Haverhill’s mayor said the technology helped police investigations but that the company did not provide enough safeguards for residents’ privacy.[1]
Annie Ryan, who protested the cameras outside the meeting, said residents want a local ordinance.[1] She described it as “an ordinance that requires residents have a say via a council vote on any new surveillance technology.”[1]
Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts called for a statewide law. “Massachusetts needs to join the many other states in New England and across the country that have state laws on the books,” Crockford said.[1] Crockford said those laws regulate police use of the technology.[1]
A state bill is planned
State Rep. Steven Owens plans to bring up a bill on the technology in the next legislative session.[1] “We can’t be in a situation where everybody who uses our roads is being tracked, bought, sold and commodified by a third-party company,” Owens said.[1]
Flock Safety’s senior director of policy, Andrea Korb, addressed state rules in a recent virtual meeting with the R Street Institute.[1] “We really advocate for strong legislation state by state,” Korb said.[1] WBZ-TV said the company did not respond to its request for comment.[1]
Lowell complaint follows a closed-door vote
The Lowell City Council voted 8-1 in an Oct. 6 executive session to let police resume using the cameras.[3] The vote barred sharing data with other agencies.[3] It reversed a 6-5 public vote on Sept. 22 to suspend the cameras.[3]
DeFlock Lowell, a group that opposes the technology, said the council violated the state’s open meeting law by voting in executive session.[2] The group filed a complaint over the vote.[2] That claim is an allegation, and the reports reviewed described no ruling on the complaint.
Councilor Sean McDonough cast the only vote against reactivation. “I truly don’t understand why my colleagues felt that was the right thing to do,” McDonough said of the closed session.[2]
Councilor Rita Mercier defended the cameras. “The value of good outweighs the bad, so I support the Flock cameras,” Mercier said.[2] NBC10 Boston said the city manager and the Lowell Police Department did not respond to its requests for comment.[2]
How many cameras, and how often they are searched
Sources gave two figures for Lowell’s system. Boston.com, citing the Lowell police transparency portal, reported 37 cameras with a 30-day retention period.[3] NBC10 Boston reported more than 40 cameras.[2]
The portal’s public audit showed nearly 500 searches in the past 30 days.[3] About 180 of them were categorized as searches for a wanted person.[3]
Flock cameras record a vehicle’s license plate, make, model and color.[3] The data is shared across a national police network of more than 7,000 agencies.[3]
Where other communities stand
Boston police dropped Flock Safety after a trial period, when city officials disclosed that drivers’ data had been left unsecured by a vendor error.[3] New Bedford chose not to renew its contract after it fired two officers accused of misusing the system.[3] Lynn is tightening its camera policies after an investigation into alleged misuse by an officer.[3]
The Boston City Council questioned police about license plate readers at a hearing this week, as The Boston Report covered. Quincy’s council voted to require a public hearing before any new surveillance contract. More coverage is in Massachusetts communities and Massachusetts government news.
Sources
- CBS Boston (WBZ-TV): Will Massachusetts lawmakers take action on controversial Flock cameras?
- NBC10 Boston: Lowell reactivates Flock cameras after closed-doors vote critics say violated law
- Boston.com: Flock cameras are back on in Lowell
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