Emails & ACLU Letter

Two internal Gill→Pontbriand emails plus the ACLU of Massachusetts "Dear Municipal Leader" letter and the MA Chiefs of Police Association legal advisory.

Last updated June 4, 2026

Pages: 15
Citation key: Email p.X
Released via: MA Public Records Request (G.L. c. 66, §10)
Download: ⬇ PDF (4.9 MB)

What's in it

p.1–2 — Gill→Pontbriand email 11/25/2025 6:43 PM, "Flock Safety Project Benefits" (cc Antonellis, Bigelow)
p.3 — Gill→Pontbriand email 11/17/2025 5:14 PM, forwarding the MCOPA legal advisory; states he instructed Flock to set MA-only sharing that afternoon
p.4–5 — Forwarded MCOPA email from Atstupenas (Mon 11/17/2025 2:33 PM) — cover note
p.6–10 — ACLU of Massachusetts letter to Municipal Leaders (Kade Crockford & Gideon Epstein); cites 404 Media, EFF, Wyden/Krishnamoorthi FTC letter; references MA Shield Law (G.L. c. 147 §63)
p.11–15 — MCOPA Legal Advisory (5 pages, Rev. 11.17.2025): briefing for chiefs on the ACLU concerns

Pivotal pages

Gill 11/17/2025 email — **Email p.3** — Gill→Pontbriand, 11/17/2025 5:14 PM. "I was already scheduled for an implementation meeting with Flock Safety this afternoon. I was informed by the implementation team that we can absolutely adjust the settings to have Ayer information to be only automatically accessed by Police Departments within the Commonwealth … I informed the implementation team that I wanted the settings to be set up that way."

Gill 11/25/2025 email — **Email p.1** — Gill→Pontbriand, 11/25/2025 6:43 PM, "Flock Safety Project Benefits." Includes the line "Approximately one year ago, we began engaging with Flock Safety."

ACLU letter to municipal leaders, page 1 — **Email p.6** — ACLU-MA letter, page 1. "If your police department uses Flock Safety's license plate reader technology, sensitive data about your residents may be automatically shared with thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide, including those involved in civil immigration enforcement and in states that ban abortion."

The ACLU's four requested actions

Inquire with your police department to determine if they use Flock Safety or other LPR technology.
Request documentation showing current Flock or other LPR system settings and complete contract terms.
If they use Flock or another LPR provider, immediately instruct them to: (a) disable all automated data sharing with agencies outside Massachusetts, and (b) review and amend any contract language to ensure it does not give the LPR company rights to share your municipality's data.
If external data sharing cannot be prevented, end your LPR contract and remove the cameras from your community.

The ACLU requested a response within 30 days (i.e., by ~12/17/2025). No reply by APD or the Town appears in this corpus.

The MCOPA advisory's key point

"Some publicly available Flock template agreements in other jurisdictions contain broad, long-term license terms that allow the vendor to use or disclose 'Agency Data' in ways the ACLU believes may exceed what an agency intends based on its user-selected sharing settings."

— MCOPA Legal Advisory, Email p.11

MCOPA recommends that agencies have counsel review their actual contracts (not assume template language applies) and consider amendments restricting vendor disclosure of MA data to out-of-state agencies. No contract amendment appears in this corpus.

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