Select Board Chair Outlines ALPR Camera Policy

Select Board · Meeting of August 19, 2026

Plainville Select Board Chair Jeff Johnson previews an October forum on license plate camera policy. Johnson told the board the town owns four automatic license plate reader cameras, bought with a 2021 grant, that are not connected to the Flock or Vigilant Network databases and purge non-investigative data after 90 days. He said the police department's ALPR policy has been reviewed by the ACLU, that two administrators control system access, and that only one external data request has been processed to date.

Johnson noted other ALPR cameras exist in town under state and private ownership outside town control, and that Massachusetts law bars using the devices to issue traffic tickets. "I do think the time has come for a public discussion around the use of these devices," he said, inviting residents to email questions to jjohnson@plainville.ma.us with the subject line "ALPR" ahead of an October agenda item.

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