Watertown will cancel the contract with Flock Safety to install license plate reading cameras in the City, and City Manager George Proakis told the City Council he wants to continue to have discussions about when it is appropriate for the Watertown Police to use technology in its investigations.
The City signed a contract last year with Flock with plans to install eight cameras. Proakis announced the end of the contract at the Jan. 27 City Council meeting, but said he would like the City Council to discuss use of technology by the Watertown Police Department.
The cameras became a topic of discussion in recent months as more communities install them, and others have removed them due to concerns about how the data collected by the cameras is being used, and who has access to it.
“While I have a lot of faith in how our Police manages their policies and their data, I can’t sit here and vouch for some outside company on this level, and I don’t want to do that under these circumstances,” Proakis said. “So, I think the best bet is to end the Flock relationship, have a reset on this question, and have a conversation with the Council on where, how and under what circumstances it’s appropriate for the Police Department to be using data.”
The ACLU of Massachusetts contacted Watertown and other communities about Flock sharing information with law enforcement outside the state, and at the federal level. Watertown officials began drafting a policy to limit access to the data to law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts which would have to provide proof the data requested would be used on an ongoing criminal investigation.
“I think most of the feedback I’ve received is that there’s a lot of confidence and trust in our Police Department and their efforts to fairly use technology to address their law enforcement needs without using technology in a way that is intrusive or has privacy concerns, etc.,” Proakis said.
On Jan. 21, the Watertown Police hosted a Tech Talk to discuss the Flock cameras and other technology used by officers. Most of the residents there expressed concerns about the Flock cameras and that the data collected could be used by federal immigration enforcement agencies.
“My understanding that there was a lot of conversation about the particular circumstances of the company sharing information with federal agencies,” Proakis said. “Our contract was intended to be written in a way that doesn’t allow that. There was some capacity to be able to tighten that language. But on the other hand, I feel like a cut and a fresh start on any questions related to this is probably the best way to do this.”
At the Tech Talk, Watertown Police Chief Justin Hanrahan said that Flock cameras in other communities have helped solve and speed up investigations into incidents in Watertown, including where suspects forced their way into homes and the theft of donations from St. Patrick’s Church.
Proakis said he weighed the usefulness of the cameras with the concerns with how the data is used by a private company.
“If a crime is committed, the worst case scenario of that is a random kidnapping, which is a very rare crime, but if it is committed, and all we have is someone who might have stolen a car or stolen a license plate and we have that plate number, the ability to track that plate is valuable,” Proakis said. “But the ability to track that plate and put the data in the hands of a company that our community members don’t trust is not worth for the limited likelihood of that. It’s a very challenging situation to go down that road and compete with the concerns about everything going on at a national level and how it relates to all that.”
The Watertown Police will have access to images and video from other sources to assist investigations, Proakis said, including the body cameras word by WPD detail officers, home security cameras, surveillance cameras installed by private businesses or at private parking lots.
None of the cameras from the City’s contract have been installed in Watertown, Proakis said, and he said he will work with the Procurement Office on the steps to extract the City from that contract.
“Maybe some of our private entities in town have it. I can’t tell you whether or not there’s one in a given parking lot here or there,” Proakis said. “I know Waltham has them. I know Lynn has them. I know Cambridge had them, but we don’t.”
Proakis did not rule out installing license plate reading cameras in the future, and said that the City Council should design a policy for how the Watertown Police use technology and the data collected.
“Our police chief is meeting with the ACLU attorney who has brought up issues about police surveillance technology. That meeting is scheduled this week,” Proakis said. “I want them to go forward and have that conversation, review the draft policy that we’ve written, and understand kind of overall, how the police use technology and use and use data collection is still an important conversation as it relates to this.”
The City Council had planned to have a discussion at the committee level to discuss the policy for using data collected by the cameras, and where it is appropriate to use and where it is not, Proakis said.
“And then if there’s some circumstance where we can write a good policy and find a vendor that works right with us, or something, maybe, maybe there’s a point to have a conversation about whether or not this works,” Proakis said.