A recent report reveals that a 2025 pilot program between the Boston Police Department (BPD) and Flock Safety, a provider of automated license plate readers (ALPRs), inadvertently exposed driver data to unauthorized law enforcement agencies. The incident occurred despite a contractual agreement meant to prevent such sharing, according to reporting from WBUR.
The pilot, which ran for 156 days from April 1 to September 4, 2025, involved 45 Flock cameras installed across Boston. The contract stipulated that data sharing with external agencies should be disabled, and Flock Safety confirmed these settings were 'off'. However, within three days of the pilot's start, BPD discovered that other agencies could access license plate and vehicle information due to an "error" by Flock. While the specific agencies that accessed the data and the number of affected drivers remain unclear, thousands of agencies globally are connected to Flock's network.
What happened during the Boston ALPR pilot?
The BPD's internal audit of the pilot found several key details:
- Duration: 156 days (April 1 to September 4, 2025)
- Camera Count: 45 Flock cameras deployed
- Data Sharing Breach: Occurred for three days at the start of the pilot
- External Requests: BPD received 77 requests for data from other law enforcement agencies after the breach was resolved, including the U.S. State Department and Massachusetts State Police.
- Internal Searches: BPD officers conducted 11,004 searches in the database.
- Case Number Compliance: Officers included a case number for a specific crime in only about half of their searches.
Following the discovery of the data sharing issue, BPD immediately instructed Flock to disable the function. The city and BPD officials have since stated they will not use Flock Safety services moving forward. For more information on how ALPRs work, you can explore our /learn section.
What's next for Boston's surveillance technology?
After ending the Flock pilot, the Boston Police Department has initiated new pilot programs with other license plate reader companies. A pilot with Motorola began in February with 45 cameras, and another with Axon started in June with 30 cameras. Officials have not reported similar data sharing errors in these new pilots.
Boston City Councilor Ben Weber, a member of the city's Surveillance Oversight Advisory Board, expressed concerns about the lack of transparency regarding these new pilot programs, stating that the City Council was not informed until after they had launched. This ongoing discussion highlights the need for clear regulations around surveillance technology. State Representative Steven Owens of Watertown has proposed legislation that would require police to obtain a court order before sharing data with outside agencies.
Drivers in Boston should be aware that while the Flock Safety pilot has concluded, other ALPR systems are being tested. These systems can capture your vehicle's information as you drive. Stay informed about where these cameras are located by checking our live camera map at /map.