Documented Incident
Boston report: Flock shared city ALPR data with outside agencies despite contract ban
Event: April 1, 2025 · First reported: September 14, 2026 · 5 sources
Boston's 2025 Surveillance Technology Report, obtained by WBUR ahead of its release to the City Council, says that within three days of launching a no-cost Flock Safety pilot on April 1, 2025, Boston Police discovered that outside law enforcement agencies could access the city's license plate and vehicle data — despite a contract that required data sharing to be turned off. The report attributes the exposure to an error by Flock, which secured the system after three days; it does not identify which agencies accessed the data or how many Massachusetts drivers were affected. The 156-day pilot used 45 cameras and ended Sept. 4, 2025, with data deleted and equipment removed within 30 days. BPD and city officials say they will not use Flock services going forward; Flock did not respond to WBUR's request for comment.
The episode tests whether contractual promises to disable data sharing can be verified in practice, a question facing every community that signs an ALPR agreement with sanctuary-style or immigration-related restrictions. It also highlights that Boston's council says it learned of subsequent ALPR pilots only after they began.
Key facts
- Pilot ran 156 days, April 1 to Sept. 4, 2025, at no cost to the city, using 45 Flock cameras
- BPD logged 11,004 database searches during the pilot; its own audit found case numbers were entered only about half the time, and recommended requiring them
- BPD received 77 outside requests for its Flock data, including from the U.S. State Department, ATF, DEA, Massachusetts State Police, Maine State Police, Brookline and Watertown police; the report does not say which were granted
- The report found no complaints or records of misuse during the trial, and no identified impact on the civil rights or liberties of marginalized groups
- Boston later began pilots with Motorola (45 cameras, February) and Axon (30 cameras, June); the ACLU of Massachusetts says at least 25 Massachusetts communities have canceled Flock contracts
Timeline
- September 14, 2026Flock Safety failed to secure Boston vehicle data during 2025 pilot, report finds
- September 14, 2026Boston told Flock not to allow outside access to its license plate data. It happened anyway.
- September 14, 2026Boston drops Flock after outside agencies gained access to vehicle data
- September 16, 2026Boston Gave Flock 3 Days… and a Vendor Glitch Leaked City Vehicle Data to Outside Police
Sources
This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.
- Flock Safety failed to secure Boston vehicle data during 2025 pilot, report finds (wbur.org, September 14, 2026)
- Flock Safety failed to secure Boston vehicle data during 2025 pilot, report finds (Headtopics, September 14, 2026)
- Boston told Flock not to allow outside access to its license plate data. It happened anyway. (The Boston Globe, September 14, 2026)
- Boston drops Flock after outside agencies gained access to vehicle data (MassLive, September 14, 2026)
- Boston Gave Flock 3 Days… and a Vendor Glitch Leaked City Vehicle Data to Outside Police (Gadget Review, September 16, 2026)
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About this record
BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.
Updated September 18, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.