BRAINTREE, Mass. — Residents lined up Monday night to urge the Braintree Town Council to support a resolution asking the mayor to pause the town's Flock license plate reader program, with many pointing to a case in which a local police detective is accused of using the system to track a former girlfriend.

The council took the Flock item off the table and heard a first reading of the resolution, offered by Vice President Elizabeth Maglio. It asks the mayor to "pause all searches, data sharing, and data collection by flock license plate readers in Braintree and enter into no new or renewed contracts while preserving all search logs and audit records." The pause would last until the council reviews a written policy at a public meeting that requires a case number for every search, independent audits, published criteria for outside agency access, contract protections for the town's data and data on the program's effectiveness.

The council president said members would vote at the Dec. 1 meeting, to give councilors time to get their questions answered. He said the resolution is nonbinding because the town charter and state law put the police department under the mayor's authority. The council then voted unanimously to table the items again.

Every resident who spoke during the public comment period favored a pause or removal of the cameras. Several cited the detective's case. Connor McDermott said the detective is accused of searching for his ex-girlfriend's license plate "one thousand and forty-nine times," and noted that he has pleaded not guilty. The charges are allegations, and the detective is presumed innocent.

"And though it was just one person, it was a thousand instances," said Andrew Nutter Upham, who called for written search reasons, audits, documented stops and public reporting.

Abigail Jackson said she had counted 17 of the cameras in Braintree and about 41 audio devices. "There's no compromise to be made with these cameras," she said.

Chris Faraone, who said he is editorial director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and a Braintree resident, told the council the network exposes residents to "the worst of the literal worst." He also said, "we're talking about a department where money has gone missing, drugs have gone missing, guns have gone missing." He did not give details, and no town or police official responded to that claim during the meeting.

Crystal Rafi, an Army veteran, said she is a trans woman and that "the attacks on trans people in this country have been helped by flock cameras." She argued that police should have to get a warrant to obtain footage, saying, "Flock cameras are too easy."

Another resident, citing German heritage, said, "Germany would have loved to have this access to data. As long as you were not Jew or gypsy or disabled, you were in line."

Braintree's police chief thanked residents and said some of their points were valid and would be looked into. He said some opinions "may not be based on a little bit of misinformation or not having the full story," and acknowledged the department may not have put out enough information. He described recent cases in which he said the system helped solve a hit-and-run at South Shore Plaza, locate two missing older people and find a man wanted on warrants for violating a restraining order.

Maglio said those successes were important but asked whether police could do the same in 2021 and 2022 without the technology. She said the program has been funded in part with mitigation money meant for traffic and road improvements, and that she had planned to seek a full ban but was asking only for a pause. "Mayor Joyce, this is on you," she said.

Another councilor said the cameras were acquired without council review and were "quickly misused," and raised concerns about data sharing and how much surveillance the town is building toward.