The San Diego Police Department‘s proposed surveillance technology with smart streetlight cameras and automated license plate readers was advanced by the city’s Public Safety Committee.
Wednesday’s vote of 3-1 sends the proposal to the full City Council. according to Ashley Bailey of the City of San Diego.
The proposal would allow the use of smart streetlight video cameras paired with automated license plate recognition by SDPD at 500 locations throughout the city, Bailey said. The proposal includes information regarding access, data storage and retention, the release of data and information collected, and more.
“Job No. 1 for any city is to keep its residents safe, and smart streetlights have proven their ability to help the San Diego Police Department solve crimes and make our communities safer,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.
“SDPD has demonstrated it can use this technology responsibly and has provided a wealth of information in order to comply with the city’s privacy ordinance. I thank the Public Safety Committee for moving this item forward today,” he said.
Several people said they believe the technology will infringe on their privacy rights, especially for people of color. They also said they fear being over-surveillanced and targeted because of their background.
“I have no freedom of movement.” said Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, policy director of Alliance San Diego. “SDPD can track my entire day with smart streetlights. The right to privacy is a universal human right. Communities of color have longed been surveilled by law enforcement and had this right violated.”
SDPD officials said they do not use the technology in a discriminatory way or to target people based on age, skin color or ethnicity. The license plate readers and streetlight cameras do not have facial recognition or audio technology.
The city will own the data from the cameras and will not share that information.
The data will not be monitored in real-time — only when a crime is reported. Police said the license plate data will be deleted after 30 days, and the streetlight footage will be overwritten after 15 days.
