u/UncleAbnerSquantum

TL;DR: In 2026, Quincy's plate camera data was included in over 5.1 million queries by 4,029 outside agencies in 46 states, including 57,650 by the FBI, almost all with no stated reason. QPD quietly shut off outside access on August 6. Chief Kennedy told the council it's a "closed system" on September 8, the same afternoon QPD started requiring case numbers for searches. Every search Flock's own audit tool flagged for review was archived with no recorded findings. Source: Quincy PD's Flock search audits, outside-agency query logs, and admin event logs, obtained through a FOIA request. Search data covers Jan 1 to Sep 29, 2026 (April 23 to 30 was missing from what was released).

1. The timeline

April 24, 2025: Network set to "discoverable nationwide," auto-accepting requests within 500 miles
April 13, 2026: Search reasons become required for the first time
April 14, 2026: Flock's audit assistance tool turned on
April 22, 2026: FBI granted access. Its first query runs the same day.
June 4, 2026: First review of flagged searches, 51 days after the tool was turned on
August 6, 2026: National and statewide lookup switched off, all sharing disabled, 689 organizations lose access at once. No public announcement I can find.
September 8, 2026, ~1:08 PM: Case numbers made required. That evening, Chief Kennedy tells the council Quincy runs a closed system.
September 14: Search reasons changed to a fixed list
September 24: Case numbers required for hotlists too The access shutoff came 33 days before the testimony. The rules about why officers can search came the day of and after.

2. Flagged searches that are never explained

54 searches flagged by Flock's audit tool since April 14
All 54 marked "Archived." None marked anything else.
On June 4, 35 were cleared in 66 minutes, a median of 68 seconds each
18 of those 35 came from one officer's searches
No notes, findings, or record of who reviewed them Archiving a flag doesn't prove anything was wrong. But a minute per flag isn't much of a review, and the public has no way to know what was checked.

3. How exposed was our data in 2026? From January 1 to August 6, Quincy's plate data was included in 5,115,431 queries by 4,029 outside agencies in 46 states plus DC. That's 25,000 to 35,000 a day on weekdays, right up to the shutoff.

FBI: 57,650 queries, starting the day it got access. Every one was categorized "Other" or "Disorderly Conduct." 96.5% read "Other - Not Applicable." None listed a specific crime.
U.S. Postal Inspection Service: 22,850
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base: 208
Intelligence units: NYS Crime Analysis Center (27,538), Georgia Dept. of Corrections Intelligence Unit (18,979), Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (5,149), and fusion centers in Missouri, West Virginia, and Ohio
17,069 outside queries were labeled test or training

4. How QPD used the system in 2026

6,187 searches from Jan 1 to Sep 29
Until April 13, reasons were optional. 36% of searches before then had no written reason.
571 camera tests were logged under crime categories like drugs, alcohol, and shots fired. The system forced a crime category, so this may be bad setup rather than intent, but it inflates any crime-based reporting that QPD has sent out about how the system was used on these "crimes"
Some searches were run on behalf of others, including an FBI task force officer and another town's police

5. Questions for the mayor and chief Kennedy

Why was outside access shut off on August 6 without telling the public (and why was it ever on in the first place)?
Who reviewed the 54 flagged searches, and what did they find?
Why did one officer account for half the Flock Internal Audit flags?
Why did 950 searches this year have no written reason?
Chief Kennedy said 134 plates were searched in 30 days. However for that same timeframe the log shows 415 searches, why is there a difference in his public comments and the actual logs?
Why was the FBI given access, and why did none of its 57,650 queries name a specific crime?
What stops sharing from being switched back on without public knowledge?

I got Quincy PD's Flock camera logs through a public records request. Our data was open to 4,029 agencies until 33 days before the "closed system" testimony.