New Bedford City Council meeting cut short during Flock talks due to rowdy residents

Our Take

When a city council meeting has to be gaveled down early because residents won't stop pushing back on license plate surveillance, that's not "rowdy" — that's democracy working as intended. Credit to WPRI for capturing what happens when a community finally gets a public forum to react to Flock cameras that were likely installed with little debate in the first place. Dozens of New Bedford residents showing up angry isn't noise; it's the predictable result of police departments deploying mass surveillance tech first and asking permission never.

This is the same story playing out in city after city: a police department quietly signs a contract with Flock Safety, cameras go up on streets and intersections, and nobody outside the department has any real say until residents start noticing they're being tracked everywhere they drive. By the time it reaches a council chamber, people are furious — not because they don't care about public safety, but because they were never asked. A meeting getting "cut short" because officials couldn't manage the crowd's frustration says a lot more about the process that led to that moment than it does about the residents.

If you're in New Bedford or anywhere else wondering whether your city already has these cameras watching your daily movements, check our map to see what's been deployed near you, and if you want to push back the way these residents did, our take-action page has the tools to get started.