Updated September 12, 2026. This is a running list of Massachusetts cities and towns that have ended, suspended or declined to renew contracts with Flock Safety, the company whose automated license plate readers are mounted on poles in hundreds of communities. The ACLU of Massachusetts counts 25 municipalities that have canceled contracts or ended pilots in the past 18 months. The list below names the ones we can document from public announcements and reporting, with dates. It will be updated as towns act.
For what the cameras do and how the data is used, see our explainer on Flock Safety. For the pending legislation, see below.
Towns that have ended or suspended Flock
- Watertown. Canceled its contract in January 2026, one of the earliest.
- Stow. Ended its relationship after an officer was accused of misusing the system to look up individuals for personal reasons; the officer resigned before a termination hearing.
- Auburn. Cut ties in late August 2026.
- Bellingham. Did not renew when its contract expired September 4, 2026.
- Douglas. Deactivated all cameras immediately in late August 2026.
- Grafton. Announced it would end its contract in August 2026.
- East Bridgewater. Announced it would end its contract in August 2026.
- Abington. Terminated its contract; the police chief announced removal on August 31, 2026, saying “being a successful police department is not simply about having the most tools or the newest technology. It’s about maintaining the trust and confidence of the people we serve.”
- Ayer. Select Board voted unanimously August 31, 2026 to disable and remove all cameras and terminate the contract.
- Groton. Announced termination August 31, 2026 after an internal review.
- Easton. Announced its two cameras would come down and the contract end by year’s end.
- Southbridge. Suspended cameras installed earlier in 2026, announced August 31.
- New Bedford. Paused use after an officer was accused of using the platform to track an ex-girlfriend; the City Council is drafting a surveillance ordinance.
- Acushnet. Suspended use in September 2026.
- Cohasset. Select Board moved to terminate ahead of an automatic renewal deadline in September 2026.
- Waltham. Mayor Jeannette McCarthy ordered all 16 cameras covered with plastic bags on September 8, 2026, without notice to the City Council, which says it never approved cameras bought with drug forfeiture funds. See how Waltham bagged its cameras.
- Boylston. Police suspended the system on September 11, 2026 while the town works toward termination; the department says it will still evaluate the technology.
Towns reviewing their contracts as of this update include Charlton, where the Select Board has scheduled a review, and Hopkinton, where a public hearing drew strong comment. Lynn has officers under investigation for misuse. Communities that have canceled but which we have not yet been able to document from a primary announcement are not listed; if the ACLU’s count of 25 is right, about nine are missing here.
Why towns are leaving
The reasons stated in the announcements fall into three groups. The first is officer misuse: Stow, New Bedford and Lynn each had an officer accused of running searches for personal reasons, and the pattern nationally, including an Albany County sheriff’s investigator charged this month after some 3,000 searches for an ex-girlfriend’s car, has made every chief’s assurances harder to give. We covered the Revere case in the Revere Flock investigation. The second is data sharing: Flock’s network lets agencies across the country query each other’s cameras by default, and towns have discovered their plates were searchable by out-of-state and federal agencies with no local control. The third is the absence of any state rule, which several towns have said they will wait for before reconsidering.
The legislation
House bill 3755, “establishing driver privacy protections,” was filed in January 2025 by Representatives Steve Owens of Watertown and Lindsay Sabadosa. It would bar other entities from accessing plate-reader data without a warrant, limit retention to 14 days unless tied to a criminal investigation, prohibit monitoring of constitutionally protected activity, and apply to anyone acting under color of law. The Transportation Committee endorsed it 11 to 0 in March; it is pending in House Ways and Means. A separate data privacy bill, S 2619 and H 5479, is in conference committee and may carry plate-reader provisions.
Owens described the impetus: “Every few days we get an article about how some police officer used it to stalk an ex-partner or somebody inappropriately.” The ACLU’s Gideon Epstein: “The problem is, we effectively have none of those guardrails in place at the moment.” Flock’s statement is that it supports legislation with “strong privacy, transparency, and accountability guardrails.” We covered the bill in what H 3755 would do.
What a resident can do
Whether a town has Flock cameras, how long it keeps data, and who it shares with are public records. A request under the public records law to the police department or the town clerk will produce the contract and the data-sharing settings, and a request to Flock’s transparency portal, where a town has one, shows search counts. We explained the process in how to find out whether your town uses license plate readers. Contracts typically renew automatically on an annual date, which is why Cohasset acted when it did; a resident who wants a town to reconsider should find that date first.
How many Massachusetts towns have dropped Flock?
The ACLU of Massachusetts counts 25 that have canceled contracts or ended pilots over 18 months. This page documents 17 from public announcements.
Which town was the most recent?
Boylston, which suspended its cameras on September 11, 2026 while moving toward termination.
Is there a state law on license plate readers?
Not yet. H 3755 would impose a warrant requirement for outside access, a 14-day retention limit, and other guardrails. It is pending in House Ways and Means.
Why are towns canceling?
Officer misuse cases in Stow, New Bedford and Lynn; default nationwide data sharing; and the absence of state rules.
How do I find out if my town has Flock cameras?
Ask the police department or town clerk for the contract under the public records law, and check whether the town has a Flock transparency portal.
Town actions from Boston.com (August 26 and September 1, 2026), The Boston Globe (August 22, 2026), Boston 25 (September 2, 2026), Hoodline, the New Bedford Guide, South Shore News and Fairhaven Neighborhood News, September 2026. Legislation and quotes from GBH, September 9, 2026. The list includes only actions we could document; corrections and additions to contact@masslegalresources.com. General information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice.