Lowell City Council Reversed Flock Camera Suspension Behind Closed Doors, Minutes Show
DeFlock Lowell calls for the cameras to go dark until the Council votes in public
LOWELL, Mass., November 12, 2026 — The Lowell City Council told residents in September that it was suspending the city's Flock license plate cameras. Two weeks later, in a closed-door session, it quietly turned them back on. Residents learned about it only this week, when the minutes were released.
On September 22, the Council voted 6-5 in public to suspend Lowell's Flock cameras while it reviewed how the technology is used and audited. On October 6, it went into executive session under the Open Meeting Law exemption for "the deployment of security personnel or devices." Behind closed doors, councilors voted 8-1 to let police resume using the cameras "without the sharing of data." The Council never returned to open session that night.
Councilor Sean McDonough cast the only dissenting vote. According to the minutes, he stressed that the vote should have been held in public session.
"In September the Council told Lowell it was hitting pause. Two weeks later, behind closed doors, it hit play, and residents had to wait five weeks to find out," said Matt Lucas, spokesperson for DeFlock Lowell. "Reversing a public vote isn't a security deployment question. It's a policy decision, and it belongs in public."
"Safeguards" no one has seen. Lowell police say safeguards and strict penalties prevent misuse of the system. They have not said what those penalties are, who audits the system, or how often. The city runs 47 cameras that keep every passing driver's location for 30 days.
"No data sharing" with no way to check. In September, Councilor Kimberly Scott cited reports that Flock itself let outside law enforcement agencies access Boston's license plate data. A council vote cannot stop a vendor from sharing data. Only enforceable contract terms and audit records can. At the October 6 session, Councilor Vesna Nuon asked whether federal immigration agents could use Flock data. The public has not heard the answer.
"If 'no data sharing' and 'strict penalties' are real, show us," Lucas said. "Lowell residents shouldn't have to take a surveillance company's word for it, or learn about policy changes months later from released minutes."
What DeFlock Lowell is doing. In late October, DeFlock Lowell filed an Open Meeting Law complaint with Mayor Erik Gitschier and City Clerk Michael Geary over the October 6 vote. The Council's response is due by November 19. If the response falls short, the group will take the complaint to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Division of Open Government, which can nullify the vote. DeFlock Lowell has also filed a public records request for the Council's and police department's Flock records.
DeFlock Lowell calls on the City Council to:
- Turn the cameras off until the Council votes on them in open session, after public comment.
- Disclose the date the cameras were reactivated.
- Release the full October 6 executive session minutes and any materials police presented.
- Publish the Flock contract terms and the system's audit records showing who has searched Lowell's data.
- Name the penalties police say apply to misuse, and say whether any officer has ever faced them.
DeFlock Lowell's position is that automated license plate readers should be removed from Lowell. At a minimum, any decision to keep them must be made in public.
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