Chief recommends termination of two New Bedford officers

Our Take

Credit to WCVB Channel 5 Boston for digging into this one, because it's exactly the kind of story that should be happening in every city that's bolted Flock cameras onto its telephone poles. New Bedford's police chief isn't mincing words here — he's recommending termination for two officers over alleged misuse of the ALPR network. That's a serious outcome, and it only happens when someone inside the department actually audits who's querying the system and why.

The problem is that New Bedford isn't unique for having bad actors — it's unique for catching them and being willing to say so publicly. Flock's own marketing leans hard on the idea that every search is logged and auditable, but an audit trail is only as good as the agency's willingness to actually review it and hold people accountable. Most departments never publish misuse numbers at all, so when one does, it's a rare data point confirming what critics have said for years: these networks get abused, not hypothetically, but in practice, by officers with access and a personal reason to look someone up.

This is the core argument against building a nationwide, always-on vehicle tracking grid and just trusting that policy will keep it in check. Policies get violated, and the violators often only get caught when something goes badly enough that an internal investigation can't be swept aside. If you want to see whether a camera like this is already watching your street, check our map, and if you'd rather your city not have to find out about misuse the hard way, see what you can do at take action.