One of the town’s two Flock cameras sits on Hayden Rowe Street. FILE PHOTO/NICK SCHOFIELD
The Town of Hopkinton announced Thursday that it has terminated its contract with Flock Safety, a company that provides fixed cameras to read license plate numbers and that has received criticism nationwide for privacy concerns.
“A legal review of the contract between the Town and the company found that statutory deficiencies make the agreement unlawful under Massachusetts law,” the town’s press release states. “After receiving counsel’s review, the Town decided to terminate the contract.”
According to the release, the town notified Flock of the termination Thursday, and it is effective immediately. “The Town has asked Flock to turn off the cameras as soon as possible and physically remove them from town by Sept. 30,” the release notes.
“Municipal contracts must comply with procurement law, and it is our duty to ensure that we meet those standards, acting in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers. Once we found deficiencies in the existing contract, we acted to end the agreement,” Town Manager Elaine Lazarus said in the release.
“Public trust depends on both effective public safety and responsible, transparent government,” added Select Board chair Shahidul Mannan. “When concerns were raised about this contract, the Town took them seriously, reviewed the matter carefully, and acted promptly based on the findings. As we look ahead, the Select Board supports a thoughtful and transparent review of law enforcement technologies — one that considers public safety needs, privacy, appropriate oversight, legal and procurement requirements, and community input before decisions are made about their future use.”
Flock cameras utilize artificial intelligence to scan license plates. They also capture vehicle details, such as make, model and color. About five months ago, two cameras were installed in town — one on Hayden Rowe Street and the other on West Main Street near Interstate 495. Two more had been planned, according to interim Police Chief Scott van Raalten.
Concerns about possible privacy violations were discussed at the July 21 Select Board meeting.
Van Raalten told the board that the Flock system has been around for about a decade. The HPD began looking into it about 1 1/2 years ago “in the interest of expanding our ability to investigate crimes.”
The Flock camera locations were “mapped out” taking traffic volume and camera placement in neighboring communities into consideration, he added.
Concerns have arisen about the data captured, how long it is held and who can access it, van Raalten explained.
“We feel as though we have a robust policy that would address any malfeasance amongst our users,” he said. “In order to do a search for a vehicle, you need to basically spell out reasonable suspicion.”
The interim chief stressed that information is only shared with Massachusetts communities that have Flock agreements.
Added van Raalten: “We do not share with private entities, federal government or any out-of-state law enforcement organizations.”
He said the cameras have been helpful “as an investigative tool.”
“We could have reached the same conclusion without using the Flock system,” said van Raalten. “But it saved us hundreds of hours of investigative work to get to that result.”
Select Board member Amy Ritterbusch voiced concern that town leaders and residents were not aware that the technology was in use.
“It just kind of came as a surprise to all of us that we didn’t know what had been happening,” she said.
The release noted that the town plans to conduct a broad review of the law enforcement tools and technology used by the Hopkinton Police Department, including automated license plate readers. The review will consider operational needs, privacy protections, oversight, transparency and the procurement process.
“Automated license plate reader technology has proven that it can be a very valuable tool in criminal investigations and active emergencies,” van Raalten said in the release. “Even so, we recognize that our community has raised legitimate concerns, and we take those seriously. We remain committed to transparency and to ensuring this and future technology reflects the values and priorities of our community going forward.”
Who gave permission to buy them to begin with if its against MA Law???
If it is Van Raalton, he should be removed from the candidates in the search for Police Chief. He clearly did not understand municipal law procurement procedures. That is a huge concern for a long-time police officer/Interim Police Chief.
Flock is a horrible company. The CEO hides his own plates for privacy. Good that these cameras are leaving our town.
Open border lefty liberals are making our town unsafe.
Xenophobic fascists are making the entire world unsafe.
Please note that Interim Chief Van Raalton who signed this agreement is not only a police officer but in addition, a LAWYER and should have made himself aware of Mass General Laws pertaining to anything he would be signing or gotten input from the town’s legal counsel. Where is the oversight within our police department.
Governance isn’t needed when “Thank You Tim” showed that the public will support unlawful acts with the right narrative.
I feel for the danger that Hopkinton Select Board has put the police in by robbing them of the vital tools of policing that they had to get from civil forfeiture funds.
I weep, knowing the infinite amount of danger those brave men and women will face without access to a nationwide surveillance network.
Thoughts and prayers.
VanRaalten is “committed to transparency” but seemingly forgot that when he signed the agreement, purchased and had the cameras installed in town without telling anyone outside of his department.
Hopkinton will never be what it was. We were townies now just in the way of making this place what you moved away from.