New Bedford City Council votes to ban license plate reader cameras
The final vote came hours after the mayor fired two officers the city said misused the department's Flock system. The council president said he expects a veto.
NEW BEDFORD The New Bedford City Council voted Thursday night to pass an ordinance that bars the city from using automated license plate reader cameras, including the Flock Safety system the Police Department bought in 2024. The vote came the same day Mayor Jon Mitchell fired two police officers over what the city said was misuse of the system.
The vote was 8-3, NBC 10 reported, enough to reach the two-thirds of the 11-member council needed to override a veto. "Right now, if the cameras are turned back on, they would be in violation of the city law," City Council President Ryan Pereira said after the meeting. Mitchell has 10 days to sign or veto the ordinance.
Pereira said he expects the mayor to reject it. "I would be surprised if he signed it off. I would anticipate a veto," he said.
What the ordinance does
The ordinance prohibits the city from buying or operating license plate readers and other mass location-tracking technology, and from renewing or continuing contracts for them, The New Bedford Light reported. The city's Flock contract expires Nov. 12. By the summer, 20 Flock cameras were operating in New Bedford.
As filed by Councilor at Large Shane Burgo, the chair of the Committee on Ordinances, the measure also bars city money from paying for the technology and calls for existing contracts to be ended "to the extent legally permissible," with written notice to the council. Any future attempt to deploy or renew such a system would need a public hearing, a written assessment of its effect on privacy and civil liberties, public disclosure of where every device is placed, and council approval. The draft set rules for how long data may be kept, barred the vendor from sharing it with federal agencies, private companies and other third parties, and required an audit at least once a year.
"At its core, this ordinance is about accountability," Burgo said in a September statement. "If New Bedford is going to use powerful surveillance technology, there should be clear rules governing how it is acquired, how it is used, what information is collected, who can access it, how long that information is retained and what oversight exists." He has said the ordinance does not say "never" to the technology but "not now."
The mayor's view
Mitchell criticized the pace of the ordinance after the Committee on Ordinances sent it to the full council Sept. 8 on an 8-3 vote, with Councilors at Large Naomi Carney and Brian Gomes and Ward 3 Councilor Shawn Oliver opposed. Those three said there was no reason to move so quickly.
"They've rushed into things, as sometimes they do, and I think people need to sort of call time out a little bit and think about this stuff," Mitchell said on WBSM the next day. "In the meantime, the technology is disabled, and we can have a level-headed discussion about this stuff." He added: "There is a need for us to do what we can reasonably to protect the public, and while respecting the public's reasonable expectation of privacy."
Police Chief Jason Thody, in a Sept. 24 letter, backed audits, training and limits on how long data is kept, while arguing that police should keep control of where cameras go, who has access and other routine operating decisions. Thody suspended the department's use of Flock the week of Aug. 11 for a review of how it had been used. "Flock can be a valuable investigative tool, but we also recognize that technologies like this raise legitimate questions about privacy, access, information sharing, and oversight," he said then.
How it got here
The council gave the ordinance initial approval Sept. 24, also by an 8-3 vote. Burgo described it then as a temporary measure while officials worked on more detailed rules.
On Thursday, Mitchell fired the two officers Thody had recommended for termination in September. The mayor's office said the firings completed the first phase of an audit of the department's 2026 use of Flock, and a separate review of searches from Dec. 20, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2025, is still underway. The police union has said both officers plan to appeal.
What happens next
The ordinance goes to Mitchell, who can sign or veto it. A veto would send it back to the council, where an override takes a two-thirds vote, eight of the 11 members.
Councilors are scheduled to take up Thody's proposed rules for the technology on Monday, Oct. 26, with the chief and the city's technology and legal officials invited to attend.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
The Oct. 22 vote count, the margin to override a veto and Council President Ryan Pereira's words come from the television reports after the meeting, listed in the sources. The ordinance's place on the Oct. 22 agenda, its Sept. 24 initial approval, what it prohibits, the contract date and the Oct. 26 session come from the Oct. 22 report credited above, and the committee vote, the ordinance as filed and the mayor's September comments from a Sept. 9 radio report. The Flock suspension comes from the Police Department's Aug. 11 statement. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. SC360 is asking the mayor's office whether Mitchell will sign or veto the ordinance, and the council office for the roll call, and will add what comes back. Not heard: Mitchell, since the vote.
Corrections
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Sources (2)
- New Bedford Police Department: Chief Thody Announces Temporary Suspension of Flock Safety Technology, Aug. 11, 2026Primary record for the 2024 purchase, the suspension that week and the chief's quote. Read in full Oct. 22, 2026, 1:55 p.m. EDT.
- Also reported by: NBC 10 News, WPRI, The New Bedford Light, WBSM.