When Massachusetts legalized casinos, state lawmakers set aside a share of casino tax revenue to help nearby communities deal with the fallout — gambling addiction, traffic jams and stretched police departments.
But in recent years, that pot of money has served another purpose: outfitting towns with nearly $500,000 in Flock cameras and other controversial automated license plate readers. The surveillance technology has drawn broad criticism from civil liberties groups and residents of towns where they’ve been deployed.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission awards the money through a grant program known as the Community Mitigation Fund. Its rules allow the grants to go toward a variety of projects, as long as communities can show they are in response to the impact of a nearby casino.
In their applications, local law enforcement officials told the commission the cameras would capture casino traffic. Many placed them near highways leading to the casinos or several miles away. But, as some critics have pointed out, the cameras log every vehicle that drives past. Those records go into a database that police in other communities — and in some cases, other states — can search without a warrant.
