Residents crowding into the Senior Center meeting room successfully lobbied the Rochester Select Board Monday to suspend the use of the Flock cameras scattered around town that video-record car license plates and, some say, spread townspeople’s private data.
Flock cameras are AI-powered automated license plate readers used by law enforcement and private groups across the U.S. to capture vehicle data. Thanks to a recent grant award, five of these cameras have been in use in Rochester since March.
After hearing residents’ very vocal reservations about the town system, the select board unanimously approved temporarily suspending its use for 30 days while the town investigates the system and its contract with the Flock company.
Halima Tiffany began the discussion by reading from a prepared statement. “The cameras are used by our PD to solve crimes. That’s the public safety argument,” she said. “But there is another side of this coin — privacy and civil liberties — and that’s what I am here to talk about. It becomes a conversation about how much information the government should be able to collect about ordinary people who aren’t suspected of doing anything wrong.”
She noted that Flock told the press this summer that it operates 120,000 cameras nationwide. It is one of the most comprehensive vehicle tracking systems ever built in a democracy.
“The data is stored,” she said. “The database is the system. The sharing is the system. The network is the system. It is searchable, and it is shared. It operates with no federal oversight. No State oversight. And unless you tell me otherwise, no town oversight, except by the police department.”
Police Chief Michael Assad responded that Rochester does not share the data it collects with other agencies. He said the Flock system gathers license data only and stores it for only seven days. The system is for law enforcement only, and only a few of his officers can use it, he said. He has used it to solve crimes, and, in one case, it saved a life when a mental illness issue led to a search.
Other residents echoed Tiffany’s concerns and asked why townspeople weren’t involved in the decision to install Flock. Shouldn’t there have been a town vote? Town Administrator Cameron Durant said today was the chance for townspeople to have a conversation about the issue. Town Meetings decide budget and zoning issues, not policy issues like this one, he said.
Select board member Adam Murphy concluded the town will do its own investigation of the Flock system and the Flock contract. He motioned the vote to pause use of the system for the investigation.
Chief Michael Assad released his response in a statement on October 6: “We have heard the concerns raised by members of our community, particularly regarding privacy, how information is stored and shared, and whether information collected through the system could be sold or used outside of its intended public-safety purpose. We hear you, and we take those concerns seriously.”
“We also want our community to understand something important: Rochester Police Officers know firsthand just how valuable these cameras are. We have seen this technology assist with serious investigations, locate people in danger, identify suspects and vehicles, recover stolen property, and provide critical information when every second matters. These cameras have helped us save lives. That makes pausing them difficult from a law-enforcement perspective. But it does not change who we work for. Team RPD works for the people of Rochester.”
In other action Monday, the select board meeting came close to filling the recent vacancy within the Finance Committee. The hiring committee, which includes select board chair Paul Ciaburri, Town Moderator David Arancio and FinCom vice-chair Anthony Ruocco, considered applicant Dr. Michael Amato for the seat.
The appointment stalled because Amato could not attend, as he is also an on-call firefighter. Arancio and Ruocco said they wanted Amato at the meeting to answer questions first and go through the same process as other applicants like them have. The agenda item was continued to the next select board meeting.
The select board approved re-appointing Sharon Cruz to the Rochester Memorial School Committee. The board also approved the Lions Club’s use of the town hall parking lot on October 17 for a recycling event. The Rochester Select Board did not set its next meeting before adjourning.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco