Flock Automated License Plate Readers
Summary
Charlton Police operate Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras (4 fixed units, 4 more contracted but on hold). A citizens' petition led by Michelle Chalmers (160+ signatures) asks the town to discontinue Flock, stop the expansion, and prevent auto-renewal; the binding petition was withdrawn on legal advice and a non-binding petition is Article 15 on the October 19 Special Town Meeting warrant.
Status
Open and contested. The Select Board tabled the matter on September 22 (no decision); police held public information sessions October 14-15; the non-binding town meeting vote is October 19, with a placeholder on the October 27 Select Board agenda to deliberate on the result. A public records request by the petitioner was reported still unfulfilled on September 22.
Log
2026-10-14 — 2026-10-14 - Flock Presentation
Anthony Gribbons and Flock representative Carl Bock presented the program: 4 fixed solar cameras, ~$3,000/camera/year from the police budget, 4 more cameras contracted but on hold, 30-day auto-delete, plate-only sharing approved individually (~1,109 agreements), blocked immigration and reproductive-health searches, monthly manual audits plus AI-assist flagging. Residents pressed on facial-recognition integration, breach history, federal/ICE access, sharing scale, and other towns dropping Flock; live search demo given. Captions are ASR ("Charlton" often rendered as Charleston/Chelmsford) and end mid-sentence at 113:14.
2026-10-13 — 2026-10-13 - Select Board Meeting
Resident Christopher Merlo asked the board to commit to an October 27 deliberation and vote on the town meeting result; the board agreed to a placeholder agenda item. Police info sessions announced for October 14 (6 pm) and October 15 (3 pm) at the Senior Center.
2026-09-22 — 2026-09-22 - Select Board Meeting
Heard roughly four residents opposed, with Daniel Dowd, Lt. Gribbons (ASR variant) and board members Steve and Mike defending the program (30-day retention, case-number requirement added within the last month, sharing by individual agency agreement). Petitioner asked to discontinue Flock, halt the 4 additional cameras, and prevent auto-renewal. A motion to take no action until after education sessions was replaced by a motion to table, which passed; demo/education sessions to be arranged before the October 19 Town Meeting. Non-binding petition stays on the warrant (Article 15).
2026-09-08 — 2026-09-08 - Select Board Meeting
Michelle Chalmers presented petitions (~160 signatures each). The binding petition was withdrawn after town counsel said the decision belongs to the board; the non-binding resolution was kept for town meeting. She asked for no expansion or renewal pending public discussion and a records/legal review (including procurement compliance), and mentioned that the Southbridge chief reportedly dropped Flock. Board voted to place Flock on the September 22 agenda.