BOSTON — A Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled today that the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) cannot withhold basic information about the agency’s use of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to surveil drivers on roads across the Commonwealth.
The ACLU of Massachusetts has been seeking records about the MSP’s use of ALPR technology — including the location of cameras and audit data showing when, why, and how often MSP officers search the ALPR database — for more than five years. The MSP has refused to disclose these records, invoking exemptions to the public records law meant to protect critical infrastructure and ongoing criminal investigations.
Today’s ruling held that the MSP did not meet its burden to justify withholding the camera locations or audit logs of officers’ database searches, with the license plate numbers redacted. The court therefore granted the ACLU’s motion for a summary judgment seeking the public release of these records.
The ACLU of Massachusetts was represented in the case by the law firm Wolf Greenfield.
“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,” Crockford said.
The ACLU of Massachusetts first filed a records request seeking information about MSP surveillance of motorists after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2020 that "with enough cameras in enough locations,” this form of police surveillance could trigger constitutional protection. After the MSP repeatedly refused to turn over basic information about its ALPR use, the ACLU filed a public records lawsuit in November 2023.
Over the past 18 months, as public backlash to Flock cameras and other ALPR technology has intensified, at least 25 municipalities across Massachusetts have cancelled contracts or discontinued pilot programs with Flock. Local campaigns against the surveillance cameras have been fueled by disclosures of law enforcement abuses of the Flock database — disclosures that often surfaced through public records requests.
The ACLU of Massachusetts has created a Community Advocacy Toolkit and Local Conversation Guide to help people learn more about the use of ALPRs in their municipalities and organize in support of law and policy reforms to protect privacy and civil liberties.
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