Quincy to discuss Flock cameras amid growing privacy concerns

Our Take

Quincy is the latest Massachusetts city where elected officials have to sit and listen to residents ask a basic question: who's watching the cameras that watch us? WCVB Channel 5 Boston's coverage of Tuesday's City Council hearing is a reminder that these conversations are happening in city halls across the state, often only after the cameras are already bolted to the poles and the contracts already signed.

That sequence — deploy first, debate later — is the real story here, not just in Quincy but in dozens of towns that have quietly joined the Flock network. Once a network of automated license plate readers is logging every car that passes, the privacy conversation becomes about damage control: who gets access to the data, how long it's kept, whether it's shared with ICE or out-of-state agencies, and whether any of it actually reduces crime like vendors promise. Massachusetts residents pushing back in Quincy are asking the same questions neighbors in other states have asked after discovering a camera feed near their home never got a public vote.

If you want to see how widespread this has become, check our camera map to find Flock devices near you, and if Quincy's hearing has you wondering what you can do locally, our take-action page has concrete steps for showing up at your own council meeting before the cameras go up, not after.