WCAC

 

Is Andrew “Denny” Ahern a martyr in the Waltham battle against Flock Safety cameras?

On Monday morning, the unhoused Waltham man, 46, was arraigned on a felony charge of malicious destruction of property over $1,200 for allegedly defacing a Flock camera in May.

Afterward Ahern expressed no regrets, convinced he did the right thing.

“I didn’t care,” he said outside Waltham District Court. “Somebody’s gotta stand up against these things.” 

Although his legal struggle is only beginning, an equally determined effort in Waltham to cancel Flock appears to have succeeded.

Caught in the Act

On May 31 around 6:00 p.m., a witness in the Rockland Trust parking lot at 75 Moody saw a man park a brightly colored small motorcycle on the sidewalk next to a pole with a Flock camera attached to it. 

The suspect climbed the pole and drew on the lens with a Sharpie permanent market, according to a police report. 

The witness then pursued him northbound on Lexington Street and reported the incident to Waltham Police.

 

The next day, a WPD officer noticed a “green scooter” matching the witness’ description, covered in decals with no visible license plate. 

The vehicle’s operator, Denny Ahern, confessed that he colored on the Flock camera with a marker.

 

When asked why, “he insinuated that he didn’t believe what they stood for.”

“Ahern was advised of all the good we do with Flock cameras and instructed to find another outlet for his beliefs,” the officer wrote in the report. 

Felony Charge

Ahern was initially summoned to Waltham District Court in August. A judge determined there was probable cause for the felony malicious destruction over $1,200 charge, resulting in Wednesday’s arraignment.

He was assigned a public defender and released on personal recognizance, with his next court date set for October 16.

Afterward, Ahern questioned the destruction charge if the camera was still functional following the alleged defacement.

 

In the police report, one of the investigating officers tested the camera after the alleged incident and reported that “the camera’s view was still clear” in spite of the permanent marker strokes.

It’s unclear how much it would cost to repair the Sharpie damage (or whether the camera ever was repaired), but the cost of the camera was listed as $2,000 in the report.

“Either Star Trek or Mad Max”

Denny Ahern has lived in Waltham for roughly 15 years and currently stays at Bristol Lodge, a Waltham homeless shelter for men on Lexington Street. 

Like Flock critics, he believes government surveillance is becoming needlessly pervasive. “We don’t need all this extra s- - -,” he said after his arraignment.

He cooperated fully with Waltham Police during the Flock incident and during an earlier incident, but worries about Big Brother.

 

Ahern claimed that he was interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service a year and half ago after making a joke about White House aide Stephen Miller on TikTok. 

“We’re slipping into Minority Report,” he said, alluding to a science fiction movie with a chilling vision of the future.

De-Flock Waltham?

The City of Waltham’s police department adopted Flock Safety cameras in 2025 using drug asset forfeiture proceeds. 

The Atlanta-based company provides automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and video surveillance technology for public and private entities.

 

Waltham Police have used the technology to track vehicles used in crimes, including a road rage incident in May that claimed the life of a Waltham man.

 

But anti-Flock activists in Waltham have pressured elected officials to take the cameras down, arguing that the company shares its data with other law enforcement agencies, including federal ones, and cannot be trusted. 

Flock has added safeguards, but public mistrust remains high, especially after some Bay State police officers were caught misusing the cameras to track vehicles of former romantic partners. 

Covered Cameras in Waltham

Last week, 16 Flock Safety cameras and solar panels in Waltham were covered with black trash bags across the city. 

 

“The cameras were covered at the direction of the mayor,” a Waltham Police spokesman said this week. 

He declined to comment further, but police leaders have spoken in support of the cameras, telling the city council last year that they assist investigations and that misuse was unlikely.

 

But activists have continued to pile on, supported by a few city councilors upset that the Flock contract was signed without council or public input.

On Wednesday, Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said that “the Law Department and the mayor are addressing legal issues” connected to the cameras.

 

“In the interim I asked that they be covered until they are taken down by the company,” she added. 

She did not specify when that might happen.

And Denny Ahern? He’s now facing a felony charge for allegedly damaging a camera that might never be used again. For now, he’s glad the cameras might be coming down and he’s ready for his next day in court.