Lowell is bringing its Flock Safety surveillance cameras back into operation after city councilors voted in a closed session to reverse an earlier suspension, NBC Boston reported. Critics say the decision violated Massachusetts’ open meeting law, adding a dispute over government transparency to existing concerns about privacy.
The decision affects more than 40 cameras. The Lowell City Council voted to resume their operation during an executive session in October, according to NBC Boston. Councilors had suspended use of the system in September because of privacy concerns.
The reversal comes as other Massachusetts communities have been moving away from Flock. NBC Boston reported that dozens of municipalities across the state had ended their relationships with the company in recent months amid increasing public concern about automated license plate readers.
Lowell had been among the communities pulling back from the technology. Its September suspension halted use of the cameras, but the October vote changed that course. The latest decision restores a system that had already become the subject of local objections.
A reversal made in executive session
The controversy now involves two distinct questions: whether Lowell should operate the cameras and whether councilors acted lawfully when they voted outside public view. The privacy concerns prompted the suspension; the open-meeting-law objections concern the process used to undo it.
NBC Boston described the October action as a council vote taken behind closed doors during an executive session. The account provided does not identify the legal basis councilors used to meet privately or explain why the decision to resume camera operations was made in that setting.
The allegation of an open-meeting-law violation remains an objection raised by critics in the report, not an established legal finding. The supplied account does not describe a ruling on the vote’s legality. It also does not provide a vote tally or identify how individual councilors voted.
Privacy concerns remain central to the dispute
The earlier suspension and the subsequent reversal place Lowell within a broader Massachusetts debate over automated license plate readers. The statewide departures reported by NBC Boston reflect public concern about the technology, while Lowell’s latest vote moves the city back toward using it.
The available account does not detail the specific privacy issues raised in Lowell or describe any changes to the system between the September suspension and the October vote. It therefore does not establish whether the concerns that led councilors to suspend operations were addressed before they authorized the restart.
For Lowell, the immediate change is the return of more than 40 Flock cameras following a suspension lasting from September until the October reversal. The dispute surrounding that return encompasses both the surveillance system itself and the council’s choice to authorize its renewed operation in a session closed to the public.
