City of Boston

Suffolk County · Massachusetts

7 Deployments on record
3 Agencies
6 Technology categories

Technology presence

ALPR · 1 Fixed cameras & RTCC · none on record Face recognition · 2 Drones / UAS · 1 Gunshot detection · 1 Body-worn & dashcam · 1 Doorbell & camera registry · none on record Cell-site simulators · 1 Predictive policing · none on record Social-media monitoring · none on record

The record, by agency

Boston Police Department

Boston · 5 deployments · on UnGovr: City of Boston

ALPR Vendor: ELSAG

The Boston Police Department used automated license plate readers as of 2024.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of BostonThe Boston GlobeELSAG

Body-worn & dashcam Vendor: Axon

The Boston Police Department began using Axon body-worn cameras in 2019 and still used them as of 2024.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of BostonBoston Police Department

Cell-site simulators Vendor: Tactical Support Equipment

The Boston Police Department uses a cell-site simulator, as of 2024.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of BostonWBURVocativ

Drones / UAS

The Boston Police Department operates three drones as of 2017, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.officer.com

Gunshot detection Vendor: ShotSpotter

The Boston Police Department used ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology, as of 2024.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of Bostonwbur News

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Boston · 1 deployment

Face recognition

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation responds to face recognition requests from law enforcement on specific case by case queries related to criminal investigations.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Electronic Frontier Foundation

U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Boston Logan International Airport

Boston · 1 deployment

Face recognition

The Boston Logan International Airport is one of 18 airports where Customs and Border Protection is using face recognition technology as of March 2019. An executive order signed by Pres. Trump in 2019 requires Customs and Border Protection to install face recognition technology at the United States' top 20 airports by 2021.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): BuzzfeedTechCrunch

Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026