View source for Surveillance Study Committee - May 21st, 2018

Tonight was the Surveillance Study Group's first meeting.  Attending
were Adam Chapdelaine; representatives from the IT, police, and
facilities departments; a member of the human rights commission; and
six resident members.

Adam began by talking about the group's charter and mission.  I
followed up by stating my motivations for proposing the group: to
inventory the town's use of surveillance technologies, to see what
policies we had in place for this equipment and data collected (data
retention, sharing, access, etc), and to consider adopting policies as
appropriate.

Areas where the town uses cameras:
* Fire stations
* Police headquarters
* Arlington high school
* Gibbs school
* Veteran's memorial rink
* Treasurer's office

The town may install surveillance cameras in the DPW yard, but there
are none there now.

The Arlington Housing Authority has an extensive surveillance camera
network, but this is not under town control.

Sayed (IT department) believes that 30-day retention periods are
fairly common.  (I pointed out that MassDOT has a 30-day retention
period for MBTA surveillance cameras).

The group identifies several areas to focus on
* Inventory of existing systems.  (This is mostly complete)
* Verify the retention schedules.  (Is the 30-day retention period uniform)
* Find some history behind how the cameras have been used (e.g., disciplinary action)

By statute, the police department has cameras in all of the cell
blocks, with a set retention schedule.  There's a question about
whether cell block footage can be obtained via public records
requests.  APD will not release footage (or police reports) while an
investigation is in progress.  All of the footage is stored on servers
in the public safety building.

APD gets frequent requests for copies of 911 audio recordings.  The
department has 911 recordings going back three or four years.

The town does not have any traffic cameras.

The town has an ALPR.  APD will provide more information on how this
devices is used.  It can be programmed to identify specific
categories of plates (e.g., outstanding warrants).  The plate numbers
are sent to the RMV, and the RMV may store copies of the plate lookup
requests.  ALPR targeting profiles are determined by the police
department, and not individual officers.

Drone cameras might be in scope of this group's study.  We should also
try to anticipate the use of future surveillance technologies.

It would be useful to know the procedures involved in setting up a new
town camera.

There's a question about whether the town can regulate the use of
cameras at public businesses (i.e., where the camera records a public
space).  We're not sure -- that will be a question for town counsel.

The treasurer's office may use audio recording in addition to video
recording.

Does the town use offline services to process camera data?  We're not
sure; this will require investigation.

TODO: look at surveillance camera policies in Somerville, and similar
municipalities.

It would be good to have a dialog about the benefits of surveillance
cameras, and the cost to civil rights.

One committee member recommended this article, about Berkeley's police
surveillance laws:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40558647/berkeley-mayor-we-passed-the-strongest-police-surveillance-law

[[Category:Public Meetings]]