There has been a renewed interest in surveillance cameras around the City of Boston, with Flock coming to a privately-owned Chestnut Hill Mall and members of the Boston City Council calling for speeding and red light enforcement cameras across the city.

First, Flock Safety has apparently entered into an agreement with the owners of the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center to install cameras and share data/video with law enforcement. These cameras store information in a vast national database, and basically allows law enforcement from any agency to access video from any of the cameras, if the local law enforcement agency allows.

The City of Boston Police Department (BPD) has already started using Flock, however, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pointed out last week that the BPD had first demanded to change the user license agreement with Flock before it signed up – https://tinyurl.com/3xdr2s6v

The BPD will be able to access the cameras at Chestnut Hill, which, it should be emphasized, is in Brookline.

According to the ACLU, the BPD removed a clause that would have allowed Flock to disclose data it collects to other law enforcement departments that ask for it. This would include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as agencies outside the state looking to bring prosecution forward for illegal activities in their states but not Massachusetts (abortion, for example).

The 404 Media website reported in May ICE has been already accessing local law enforcement data through Flock – https://tinyurl.com/2xfs2t45

While Boston has restricted data sharing, there are 40 other departments currently using said data and not restricting its sharing with outside law enforcement, according to the ACLU and the Data For Justice Project – https://tinyurl.com/2p9jd3c4

The concern, according to the ACLU, is that if someone at Flock were so inclined – or if the private company’s security was breached and a hacker got in (which, because it’s a private company it does not necessarily have to disclose) – the software and data could be used to track near anyone, anytime within Flock’s camera system.

It should be noted that Flock’s security, user and privacy policies state that camera data from plate readers and other devices is deleted on a 30-day rolling basis, and all data collected is owned and retained by the generating law enforcement department. It should also be noted that the Flock Memorandum of Understanding sett with the Brookline Police Department, said department is not allowed to alter any data, and does not specifically allow data to be shared with other departments from that site – https://tinyurl.com/2f5sf5mh

In similar news, District 5 City Councilor Enrique Pepén brought forth a hearing order to discuss House Bill 3754, which would make speed detection and red light cameras legal in Massachusetts.

Basically, if one of these cameras catches you speeding, you get a ticket in the mail. Pepén related a story where he himself got a warning while driving to Providence, where he was speeding in a school zone.

“When my wife attended college in Providence, Rhode Island, I used to drive there on the weekends and there was one instance where I think I was driving 5 miles or 10 miles above the school zone speed limit, and I received a warning,” he said. “That was mailed to me, and I was like, ‘Wow, there is a sense of accountability as to what they’re doing here in Providence, Rhode Island.”

Pepén noted that the State Legislature will have to pass the law to allow such cameras in Boston, but he said he wanted the hearing to make sure the city would be ready with infrastructure and regulations around how those could and should be implemented if the legislation passes.

“This technology is the future and we must be prepared to use it effectively,” he said. “Traffic enforcement is one of the three biggest concerns in District 5, and I can only imagine that is the case across all districts all over the city.”

District 6 City Councilor Ben Weber pointed out that it is extremely unlikely that the city will install cameras at all intersections – at least initially – and that the policy, if so legalized by the state, would be a huge deterrent to speeders and violators. District 4 City Councilor Brian Worrell echoed this sentiment, and added that the city currently does not have the police officers to enforce street safety as it may have done in the past.

“Although we fund for large police academies, we know that we’re not able to fill them and because of that we know that our police department does not have the large traffic enforcement division that it once had,” he said.

For more information on this hearing and the associated bill, go to https://tinyurl.com/3cvbjjju