Council votes to recommend ending Flock contracts

Select Board · Meeting of October 19, 2026

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council voted to recommend ending the city's Flock Safety camera contracts after hours of public testimony. Councilor Yuen's resolution, amended on the floor by Councilor Jacobs to also cover other license-plate reader vendors, passed 8-0 and calls on Mayor Koch's administration to terminate the contracts, remove or cover the cameras, and subject any future surveillance contract to council approval. Resident Nina West told the council 42 Massachusetts municipalities have already dropped ALPR programs; resident Maxfield Capron said records requests turned up 62 Flock cameras, not the 49 previously reported, plus unexplained Motorola units on three city streets.

Councilor Riley said companies "like Flock answer to their investors. They don't answer to the public." Because Quincy has a strong-mayor government, councilors noted the resolution only recommends action; the administration decides whether to comply. A companion ordinance regulating future surveillance technology was referred to committee, 9-0.

Earlier in the night, the council's technology committee confirmed the city is shelving its $500,000, years-long municipal broadband project indefinitely.

In the full story:

• Municipal Broadband: Council Lets the Project Go
• Ward Commendations: Neighborhood Association's 35th Anniversary and a Local Band Honored
• Open Forum: Flock Dominates, With ENC and Pay Raises Also in Play
• Massachusetts Tribe: A Request to Help Shape the Squaw Rock Cultural Center
• Housing Authority Reappointment: Baker Answers Questions on ENC, Properties and Funding
• Solar Energy Leases: Parking Garage Arrays Approved
• Nonprofit Finances and the ENC Deal: Both Referred to Committee
• Surveillance Ordinance and Flock Resolution
• Snow Removal Vehicle Markers
• Implications and What Is Next
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,869 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 19, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

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