Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series investigating police departments’ use of automatic license plate readers in western Massachusetts.
You may have noticed them as you drive down the street: black, oval-shaped devices with a camera lens on the front and a square solar panel overhead.
In recent years, they’ve been popping up on streetlights, utility poles, and elsewhere across the country, including western Massachusetts. They’re automated license plate readers, made by companies like Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions. They function like cameras, capturing images of every vehicle that drives past them and then using AI algorithms to store unique data about them: their license plate, bumper stickers, and other distinguishing features…