The Flock camera controversy

Our Take

Credit to Anastasia E. Lennon of The New Bedford Light for getting this conversation in front of a wider audience on WPRI's Behind the Story. When local reporters start fielding questions from news anchors about license plate readers, it's a sign that what used to be a niche privacy issue is becoming a kitchen-table one. That matters, because most Flock deployments happen with little public debate — a council vote, a press release about 'reducing crime,' and cameras go up before residents even know what data is being collected or who can access it.

What these local controversies keep surfacing is the same pattern: vague retention policies, unclear rules on which outside agencies can query the data, and little independent auditing of how often these systems are actually used for anything beyond routine traffic enforcement. New Bedford is just the latest city to have that conversation out loud, but it won't be the last — because Flock's expansion depends on nobody asking too many questions.

If you want to see whether your own neighborhood already has these cameras watching your plates, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back locally, our take-action page has concrete steps for raising this with your city council before the next contract renewal.