Flock cameras & license plate readers in Boston, MA
Volunteers have mapped 262 fixed license plate readers within 10 miles of downtown Boston in OpenStreetMap, and 214 (82%) are tagged as Flock Safety cameras. That puts Boston at #44 of the 87 US cities we track for mapped plate readers near the city center. Widen the circle to 25 miles and the count is 643. Within 5 miles it's 107.
Who makes them
Manufacturers as tagged by mappers, within 10 miles:
| Manufacturer | Mapped | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Safety | 214 | 82% |
| Not tagged | 28 | 11% |
| TransCore | 6 | 2% |
| Motorola Solutions | 4 | 2% |
| Neology, Inc. | 3 | 1% |
| Raytheon | 2 | 1% |
Who runs them
133 of the 262 mapped readers (51%) have an operator recorded. 216 are tagged as public (government) cameras and 5 as private, such as store parking lots or HOAs.
- Boston Police: 18
- The Home Depot: 15
- Saugus Police: 15
- Massachusetts Department of Transportation: 13
- Revere Police: 10
- Lynn Police: 10
- Chelsea Police: 9
- Tufts University: 8
Where they're mounted
Where mappers noted a mount, cameras sit on poles (72), street lights (12), walls (10) and traffic signals (1). 97% have a mapped facing direction, which our route check uses to estimate whether a camera faces your direction of travel.
Other cameras mapped nearby
- Public/outdoor CCTV: 3,566
- Traffic-monitoring cameras: 50
- Speed/red-light cameras: 0
Check a Boston route
See how many mapped readers sit on a specific drive:
Massachusetts license plate reader law
NCSL identified no Massachusetts statute that expressly addresses license plate readers. Local agency policies still apply. Source: NCSL, Automated License Plate Readers: State Statutes (summary, not legal advice; check the statute itself).
To find out which agencies around Boston use ALPRs, search the EFF Atlas of Surveillance or follow our records-request guide. Spot a camera that isn't on the map? Add it via DeFlock.
Nearby city maps
- Providence, RI: 260 within 10 mi (41 mi away)
- Hartford, CT: 217 within 10 mi (93 mi away)
- Portland, ME: 53 within 10 mi (98 mi away)
All of Massachusetts → · All city maps → · What are Flock cameras?
Frequently asked questions
How many Flock cameras are in Boston, MA?
As of October 29, 2026, OpenStreetMap has 214 Flock Safety cameras mapped within 10 miles of downtown Boston, out of 262 mapped license plate readers in total. Mapping is volunteer-driven and incomplete, so treat this as a minimum, not an exact count.
Where are the license plate readers in Boston?
Open the live map of Boston on this site to see every mapped reader as a red dot. Zoom in for street-level positions, and toggle CCTV, traffic and speed-camera layers. Positions come from OpenStreetMap volunteers and may be off.
Is it legal to use license plate readers in Massachusetts?
NCSL identified no Massachusetts statute that expressly addresses license plate readers. (Summary of NCSL's state-statutes table; not legal advice.)
Can this tell me if my car is being tracked in Boston?
No. It shows where mapped cameras are. It can't see whether a camera captured your plate or whether anyone searched for it.
How we count: OSM nodes tagged surveillance:type=ALPR within a straight-line radius of the city coordinates (42.360, -71.059), from the October 29, 2026 snapshot. Circles overlap neighboring cities. Method and limits.
Protect yourself
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Disclosure: Some of these may become affiliate links, meaning we could earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That never changes the counts or scores. We list legal privacy tools only. We will never promote plate covers, plate-obscuring products or anything meant to evade police, and none of these tools stop license-plate readers.