09/03/2026
*** 𝐖𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐘𝐎𝐔: 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 & 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 ***
The Police Department is seeking resident feedback on potential restrictions and safeguards surrounding the use of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology in New Bedford.
ALPR technology has proven to be a valuable public safety and investigative tool for more than 20 years, helping officers locate stolen vehicles, identify vehicles connected to serious crimes, find missing or endangered people, and develop leads that may otherwise be unavailable. At the same time, we recognize that the collection and use of this type of information raises legitimate questions about privacy, appropriate access, data retention, and the safeguards necessary to prevent misuse. We believe these concerns deserve thoughtful consideration and that effective public safety and the protection of individual privacy do not have to be competing goals.
Chief Jason Thody believes important decisions affecting our City should be informed by the perspectives of the entire community. Because ALPR technology has generated significant discussion and differing opinions, the Chief recognizes that some residents may have questions, concerns, or ideas, but do not feel comfortable sharing them in a public setting.
This feedback opportunity is intended to allow those residents to be heard. The system will remain inactive until residents have had the opportunity to provide feedback and the department implements any necessary safeguards.
The department has been considering a number of potential restrictions and safeguards regarding the use of ALPR technology. We have created a SurveyMonkey to gather resident feedback on these proposals and determine whether additional protections should be considered.
These proposed safeguards include:
𝟏. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 / 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Establishing a working group consisting of representatives from the NBPD, elected officials, and New Bedford residents and business owners to discuss the conditions under which New Bedford can continue the use of ALPR technology.
The working group would consider Flock Safety alongside other available ALPR vendors and technologies to determine whether another system may better align with our public safety goals, community expectations, privacy standards, data-governance requirements, and other objectives.
The evaluation could consider factors including data retention, data storage, outside-agency access, privacy protections, auditing capabilities, search requirements, prohibited uses, contractual safeguards, system functionality, cost, and the City's ability to maintain meaningful control over its data.
𝟐. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Data retention would be reduced from 30 days to 14 days. Longer retention could be permitted when data has evidentiary value in a specific investigation or when authorized by a warrant or court order.
𝟑. 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬
Requiring reasonable suspicion as the minimum standard for ALPR searches associated with a specific active criminal investigation. There is no current requirement to conduct an ALPR search.
𝟒. 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡
Requiring officers to document the legitimate law enforcement purpose for a search and the facts supporting it, creating a stronger audit trail. In addition to the current drop-down menu, officers would be required to write a supplemental report documenting the reasonable suspicion required to conduct the search.
𝟓. 𝐇𝐨𝐭-𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
A “hot list” is a list of vehicles or license plates associated with law enforcement alerts, such as stolen vehicles, wanted persons, missing or endangered persons, or other active law enforcement matters.
Establishing clear requirements for how long locally entered hot-list information remains active and who is responsible for keeping it current. Hot-list information would be reviewed and audited daily to ensure alerts remain relevant and that outdated or stale information is removed from the system.
𝟔. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐬
Conducting regular monthly audits by the Professional Standards Unit and establishing procedures for identifying and investigating unusual search patterns or other anomalies.
𝟕. 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 & 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠
Publishing periodic reports regarding the department's use and auditing of the system, including aggregate search activity, audit findings, outside-agency access, identified policy violations, and corrective actions taken, while protecting confidential investigative information and personally identifiable information.
𝟖. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠
Requiring officers to complete training before receiving access to the system, and annual training in order to maintain their status as a user.
𝟗. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐬
Clearly identifying uses that are prohibited, including using ALPR information for civil immigration enforcement or tracking individuals based solely on constitutionally protected activity.
𝟏𝟎. 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬
Establishing serious disciplinary consequences for unauthorized or intentional misuse of the system, up to and including termination where warranted, as well as referral to POST, the District Attorney's Office, or other appropriate authorities when applicable.
𝟏𝟏. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬
Further restricting ALL outside-agency access to New Bedford ALPR data. Access could require affirmative approval and compliance with restrictions consistent with those imposed on New Bedford personnel.
𝟏𝟐. 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬
Ensuring contracts clearly establish who may access data collected in New Bedford, how the data may be used and secured, when it must be deleted, and what the vendor may and may not do with it.
𝙉𝙊𝙒 𝙒𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙉𝙏 𝙏𝙊 𝙆𝙉𝙊𝙒 𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙆.
Do you agree that the safeguards strike an appropriate balance between the public safety interest and public privacy concerns?
If you believe additional protections are necessary, what would you recommend?
Your voice matters, and your privacy matters too.
An email address is requested solely to help prevent duplicate survey submissions. Your identity will not be publicly posted or associated with your response.
Take the survey on SurveyMonkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WSVZP5L
Residents can also provide feedback by emailing us at [email protected].
We want to hear what you think. Are the safeguards being considered sufficient? What additional protections, if any, should be considered?
