A private database for Massachusetts State Police to track drivers will soon be made public knowledge after a state judge ruled information collected from automatic license plate readers and similar technology must be made available to civilians.
The move comes as controversy grows over surveillance cameras. Flock cameras have come under fire by towns and cities across the state. This is the latest decision on their use.
A Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled that locations of license plate reader cameras and when state police access their database must be made available to the public. This comes after the ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2023 asking for that information.
“Over the past year, public outrage about secretive police surveillance has exploded across Massachusetts and the nation. People from cities and towns across the state have been organizing to push back against local police adoption of Flock and other license plate readers. But what many residents don’t know is that the Massachusetts State Police maintains its own statewide network of license plate readers,” said Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts.
“For the past five years, the ACLU of Massachusetts has been trying to pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding these State Police surveillance operations. Today, a court ruled that the public has a right to know basic details about where and how police are tracking motorists around the state. The first step towards accountability and oversight is transparency, so this ruling marks a critical moment in the fight for democratic control of police surveillance.”
Police have said the license plate reader cameras help solve crimes, but we’ve seen pushback from communities and even local police departments have stopped using the cameras after reports of misuse by some police officers. At least four officers at three different police departments in Massachusetts are being investigated for allegedly misusing license plate reader technology.
