Police chiefs in Norwood, North Attleboro fight to keep Flock cameras
The short version: Two Massachusetts police chiefs are lobbying hard to keep their Flock ALPR networks running, and CBS Boston's report shows exactly how these fights play out town by town.
Our Take
Credit to CBS Boston's WBZ-TV for capturing what's becoming a familiar pattern: when a town starts asking real questions about Flock Safety cameras, the police chief shows up to make an emotional case for why the surveillance has to stay. Norwood and North Attleboro are just the latest Massachusetts communities where local law enforcement is pushing back against scrutiny of a system that quietly logs every car that passes by, whether or not anyone's suspected of anything.
These pleas almost always lean on the same playbook — a handful of solved cases, vague references to "public safety," and little to no discussion of retention periods, data sharing agreements, or who else gets access to that license plate history. What's missing from these hearings is usually the bigger picture: ALPR networks like Flock create a rolling record of where people go, and that record doesn't just serve the case chiefs mention in press conferences. It can be queried by other agencies, subpoenaed, or breached, and once it exists, it rarely disappears just because a town votes to "pause" the program.
If you're in Massachusetts or anywhere else watching your local department make this same pitch, it's worth checking whether your town already has cameras deployed — our camera map tracks known Flock locations nationwide — and pushing your council for real transparency before renewal votes happen. Our take-action page has tools for exactly that fight.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CBS Boston, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.