Hopkinton cancels Flock contract, asks for cameras to be removed

Our Take

Score one for local accountability. According to CBS Boston's reporting, Hopkinton officials didn't just quietly let a contract lapse — they actively asked Flock to deactivate and physically remove the cameras. That's a meaningful distinction. A lot of towns sleepwalk into these surveillance deals, and getting out usually takes public pressure, a council vote, or both. Whatever combination of factors drove this one, it's a reminder that these contracts are not permanent fixtures of American streets. They can be reversed.

We don't have the full backstory here — the reporting is short on specifics about what prompted the reversal — so we'll stay cautious about filling in blanks CBS Boston didn't. But the broader pattern is familiar: towns adopt ALPR networks with promises about solving car thefts or finding missing persons, and only later do residents and officials start asking who else gets access to that data, how long it's retained, and whether the promised crime-fighting results ever materialized.

Hopkinton's move is worth watching as a potential template for other communities rethinking their relationship with Flock. If your town has cameras up and you want to know where, check our map, and if you want to push your local officials toward a similar reversal, our take-action page has a starting point.