american civil liberties union
Skid Row Shooting Tests LAPD Body-Worn Cameras Procedures
The officer-involved shooting Sunday, March 1, on skid row that left a man dead could be an early test of the Los Angeles Police Department’s new body camera program for officers. The encounter was recorded by body cameras worn by at least one of the officers involved in the incident.
Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned
Police leaders who have deployed body-worn cameras say there are many benefits associated with the devices. They note that body-worn cameras are useful for documenting evidence; officer training; preventing and resolving complaints brought by members of the public; and strengthening police transparency, performance, and accountability. In addition, given that police now operate in a world in which anyone with a cell phone camera can record video footage of a police encounter, body-worn cameras help police departments ensure events are also captured from an officer’s perspective.
ACLU Urges More Public Debate on Surveillance Technologies
The ACLU recently released a report regarding how security and surveillance cameras and recordings are beginning to erode at civil liberties. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California recently launched a statewide campaign to ensure that public debate, oversight, and accountability precede the acquisition of surveillance technologies by law enforcement agencies. Counties and cities across California have spent in excess of $60 million on invasive surveillance technology, and only five of 90 communities studied held a public debate each time they introduced a new element, according to the ACLU report released Nov. 12.
Ferguson Shooting: Police Now Wear Cameras
Police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, have begun wearing body cameras after weeks of unrest over the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a white officer and sharply differing accounts of the incident, officials said on Sunday.
Should ‘Cop Cams’ Be Worn At All Times?
At the heart of the violence and chaos in Ferguson is one question: What actually happened in the moments leading up to the death of Michael Brown. The public has heard from people who say they saw the incident. Authorities have spoken to the officer accused, but there’s still something missing. "If body worn cameras […]
Some Claim Boston Schools Go Too Far With Audio Surveillance Of School Buses
EDITORIAL – Matthew J. Lee, Bostom Globe staff – A new video camera system is installed above the drivers seat in a Boston school bus. Boston’s school department has offered no evidence that incidents of bullying or other misbehavior have increased to the point where both audio and video surveillance of students […]
Chicago Security Camera Surge Sparks Concerns Of ‘Massive Surveillance System’
Between traffic-light cameras, blue-light cameras that scan neighborhoods for violent crime, cameras on board city trains and buses —not to mention private security cameras— there are few places you can go in Chicago without being monitored. In the metropolis known as the City of Big Shoulders, it seems Big Brother really is watching. At last […]
Seattle PD Is Matching Mug Shots With High Tech
City Councilman Bruce Harrell, during an interview with Crosscut writers and editors The Seattle Police Department has drafted a new policy to guide the use of facial recognition software. The department, which came under criticism over earlier efforts to introduce new surveillance technologies, took steps to get outside advice during the development of the policy on facial recognition software. The software would allow police to check images of suspects against a database with 350,000 mug shots from King County. Photos in the database would be of people who’ve been arrested, fingerprinted and booked in jail. The department would purchase the “booking photo comparison software” with pending funds from a Department of Homeland Security grant. While the technology might give pause to some privacy advocates, the American Civil Liberties Union has backed the policy because it narrowly limits the department’s use of the computer system and sets clear rules for oversight. Under the policy, the department can only use the software to identify “a person whom an officer reasonably suspects may be involved in criminal activity.” This means that cops cannot use the technology to identify witnesses, victims or other crime scene bystanders. The department is also not allowed to connect the database to “live” surveillance feeds, including the city’s currently offline “mesh network.” “It would be a great way to expedite some searching we’re already doing,” Assistant Chief Carmen Best told a City Council committee on Wednesday. “This only allows us to do it much more quickly and much more […]
Source crosscut.com
Venice FL Installing 13 Crime-Fighting Cameras
VENICE – In an effort to deter vandalism and other crimes, the city is installing 13 cameras at some of its most frequented public places. Six security cameras now look over the bathrooms at Centennial Park downtown, while four others have been added to South Jetty Park. Three more are coming to the Venice Fishing Pier. John Veneziano, director of Venice Public Works, said the cameras were installed as a deterrent — not to spy on citizens. “Who has the time to monitor all that footage?” Veneziano said. “We’re working to make people understand that they can’t just destroy things without consequence.” Veneziano said the city spent $50,000 remodeling the park’s bathrooms after a string of vandalism this fall in which a wall was covered by graffiti, a urinal was ripped from another wall and fixtures, including a paper towel dispenser, were stolen. Centennial Park is not the only prominent public space damaged recently by vandals. Railings at the the Fishing Pier were destroyed. Piles of fish guts have been left on the wooden walkway for morning joggers to step in. Compare those expenses, Veneziano says, to the $1,500 the city spent to put security cameras in all three parks. Not everyone thinks the cameras are a good idea. Greater security means more intrusion by the government, warns Andrea Mogensen, vice president of the Sarasota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mogenson said multiple cameras allow law enforcement or others to follow a person’s movements without a warrant […]
Source www.heraldtribune.com
GA Department Of Natural Resources Invests In Cameras
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials say body-mounted cameras for police officers in its law enforcement branch were a good investment. Officers like wearing the devices, called Vidmics, because they assure police an accurate depiction of interactions with citizens, Major Stephen Adams told the Gainesville Times. “It provides a good tool to reduce complaints from the public, to protect the officer and to protect the public,” Adams said. “There’s no recounting what happened — you watch the complaint.” The devices can guard the public from abusive police practices while protecting officers from false accusations, said staff attorney for the Georgia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Chad Brock. The ACLU supports the use of the devices with proper safeguards, he said. “There shouldn’t be a policy where the officer can selectively turn off the recording. We would want to get a full picture, in guarding against abusive processes,” Brock said. The department has about 150 Vidmics and officers aren’t required to tell citizens they’re talking to that they’re being recorded, Adams said. In accordance with state guidelines, he added that the Department of Natural Resources keeps the footage on file for five years. The ACLU would like to see the data storage policies tweaked, Brock said. “We would want to see data retention policies that require police to destroy any of the video surveillance within a reasonable time for a routine encounter — three days to two weeks — unless there was a reason for […]
Source www.timesfreepress.com
ACLU Push Will Put Privacy In Public Eye
MONTPELIER From the proliferation of license plate readers to the installation of face-identification software at the Department of Motor Vehicles, state and local government in recent years has invested significant sums of money in technology that can be used to track citizens. Now one Vermont organization is saying enough is enough and will launch a campaign next week aimed at illuminating the scope of taxpayer-funded surveillance activities that have cropped up in the wake of 9/11. The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union will unveil a report Tuesday highlighting the evolution in recent years of the states information-gathering apparatus. As the organization says in a YouTube video released this week announcing its efforts, We used to be a state where both the notion and the reality of privacy were true. But over the last dozen years, Vermont has been transformed into a state where were being watched, the video says. Allen Gilbert, executive director of the ACLU of Vermont, said residents here have largely been caught off guard by the cumulative effect of the new technologies. Many of these have crept in rather slowly, and I dont think anyone realized the scope of the individual pieces, and the power of the system when all those pieces are aggregated, Gilbert said. Components of the state and federal surveillance program include: license plate readers that aggregate driver data for use by law enforcement personnel; cellphone-tracking technology that allows police, often without a warrant, to determine the location of […]
Source www.timesargus.com