Quincy Residents Urge Ban on Flock License Plate Cameras
Quincy residents and the ACLU are petitioning the City Council to ban Flock license plate readers, while police officials defend the technology as vital for solving crimes.
Dozens of residents and the American Civil Liberties Union urged the Quincy City Council to ban Flock Safety license plate-reader cameras during a meeting on Tuesday. Opponents argued the technology passively tracks citizens and raised concerns regarding data mining, privacy, and potential misuse.
Mark Kennedy, Chief of the Quincy Police Department, defended the 49 cameras currently in operation, stating the technology helped solve kidnappings, sexual assaults, and two homicides. Kennedy noted that only 76 of 689,000 captured plates were searched in the last 30 days and announced that the city reduced its data retention period from 30 to 14 days. Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey also advocated for the system, describing it as a valuable tool for solving violent crimes.
The Quincy City Council has not yet reached a final decision, though other Massachusetts communities have already banned the technology. In a separate but related debate in Marshall County, Indiana, commissioners voted 2-1 to temporarily disable six similar cameras by covering them with black plastic bags until early 2027.
