Council Votes 11-0 to Review Flock Cameras

Select Board · Meeting of October 13, 2026

Lynn councilors voted 11-0 to set a 90-day review timeline for the city's Flock license-plate camera program. Police Chief Kelly told the Committee of the Whole the department now limits system access to the rank of lieutenant or above, retains data for only seven days and audits use weekly, calling it "one of the strictest policies in the entire Commonwealth, if not the nation." More than a dozen residents, including organizers from the ACLU of Massachusetts and Neighbor to Neighbor, urged the council to drop Flock entirely, citing stalking abuses elsewhere and data-sharing with out-of-state agencies. City Solicitor Slattery said the two-year, $64,000 contract, signed June 29, 2026, carries a roughly $12,000 fee to remove all 23 cameras if canceled early.

Councilor Avery's motion requires a legal-options report within 45 days and a full council revisit at the first meeting in January.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,936 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.