The Cohasset case illustrates the public safety argument for automated license plate readers, which can help investigators track stolen vehicles even when officers do not witness the thefts.
Flock Safety says its cameras record license plates, vehicle characteristics, locations and timestamps. The company says the system does not use facial recognition, logs officer searches and generally deletes data after 30 days.
Privacy advocates argue that the cameras collect location information on all passing vehicles, including those not connected to a crime. According to the ACLU of Massachusetts, departments can share Flock data with individual agencies, statewide partners or participants in the company’s national network.
Communities and police departments across the country have stopped or suspended their use of Flock cameras. According to reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Police Department suspended the technology amid concerns about privacy, security and data sharing. CT Insider reported that Windsor, Connecticut, also discontinued the cameras following debate over privacy, cost and local control.
Flock maintains that police departments control their own data and can restrict access by outside agencies.Cohasset police used the town’s Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras to track two stolen Mercedes-Benz SUVs as they left town early Wednesday, helping investigators recover both vehicles in Somerville within hours.
Detectives searched information collected by the town’s automated license plate readers, which are positioned along major routes entering and leaving Cohasset, according to a press release issued by the department.
The SUVs, one a 2023 model and the other a 2020 model, were stolen from residential driveways in the South Main Street and Beechwood Street area, according to the Cohasset Police Department. The owners did not discover the thefts until they awoke Wednesday morning.
The cameras recorded one of the stolen SUVs leaving town on Beechwood Street near Doane Street at approximately 3:15 a.m., police said. The second vehicle was recorded leaving Cohasset around 5:15 a.m. on King Street near Sunrise of Cohasset.
Working with other law enforcement agencies, investigators located both SUVs in Somerville. The vehicles were being towed back to Cohasset for forensic processing as detectives continued investigating the thefts.
Police have not announced any arrests or released descriptions of potential suspects.
Police Chief William Quigley credited the department’s detectives, dispatchers and regional law enforcement partners with quickly locating the vehicles.
“Despite managing multiple serious incidents throughout the night, our detectives were able to leverage technology, including our Flock Safety license plate reader system, to quickly identify the movements of these stolen vehicles and recover both of them within hours,” Quigley said. “This is an excellent example of dedicated public servants working together and using modern investigative tools to keep our community safe.”
The thefts remain under investigation. Police asked anyone who observed suspicious activity in the South Main Street or Beechwood Street areas overnight to contact the department’s Criminal Investigation Division.
Flock Safety says its cameras record license plates, vehicle characteristics, locations and timestamps. The company says the system does not use facial recognition, logs officer searches and generally deletes data after 30 days.
Privacy advocates argue that the cameras collect location information on all passing vehicles, including those not connected to a crime. According to the ACLU of Massachusetts, departments can share Flock data with individual agencies, statewide partners or participants in the company’s national network.
Communities and police departments across the country have stopped or suspended their use of Flock cameras. According to reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Police Department suspended the technology amid concerns about privacy, security and data sharing. CT Insider reported that Windsor, Connecticut, also discontinued the cameras following debate over privacy, cost and local control.
Flock maintains that police departments control their own data and can restrict access by outside agencies.
Cohasset Police have installed four such cameras since 2024. Chief Quigley received pushback from the Select Board in January of 2025 over funding requests for 'town-wide camera system' camera system.
At the time, he acknowledging the value of security cameras in law enforcement. "The cop in me likes these things. It makes our job easier," said Quigley, which he followed with an expression of personal reservations about expanded surveillance. "Personally, I'm against it as a police officer... I don't like surveillance. It's a great tool, but used for the wrong purposes, it can really, really get out of hand and I wouldn't want to see that."