Pawtucket Officer Finds Flock Safety Cameras Across District Five

August 18, 2026 at 03:00 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

In fall 2023, Pawtucket police officer Noel Pichardo found Flock Safety license plate cameras on utility poles across District Five. He recognized the devices from a 2021 proposal and then repeatedly spotted them near highway ramps, major intersections, and routes into and out of the city. The cameras were part of a 17-camera regional pilot that also included Cranston and Woonsocket.

Key Facts

In 2021, Flock Safety offered Pawtucket police a free 60-day pilot of its license plate cameras.
Flock markets its platform as the nation's largest fixed license-plate-reader network, processing billions of sightings each month.
The cameras can identify vehicles by license plates, bumper stickers, roof racks, and other distinguishing features.
Investigators can search for a particular car across jurisdictions and, camera by camera, reconstruct where it has been.

The Discovery

In fall 2023, Noel Pichardo, a 28-year-old Pawtucket police officer, noticed a compact solar-powered camera on a utility pole over West Avenue. He made a U-turn and drove beneath the camera again, then searched roads near highway ramps, major intersections, and city entry routes, finding more devices. By the time he finished circling District Five, he recognized the cameras from a 2021 Flock Safety presentation at a police substation. The presentation described automatic license plate readers that could identify vehicles by license plates, bumper stickers, and roof racks.

The Flock System

Pawtucket's cameras are part of a vehicle-surveillance network that touches nearly every state in the country. Flock markets the platform as the nation's largest fixed license-plate-reader network, processing billions of sightings each month. Because departments can open their records to agencies elsewhere, a camera installed by one municipality can be searched by investigators hundreds or thousands of miles away. The system was presented as a routine tool to recover stolen cars, locate suspects, and find missing people.

The 2021 Pilot

In 2021, Flock offered Pawtucket police a free 60-day pilot of its license plate cameras. Pichardo understood at the time that the proposal had gone nowhere because the city could not afford a permanent installation. Seventeen cameras went up around the city as part of a regional test that also included Cranston and Woonsocket. The rollout quickly drew criticism.