ACLU of ConnecticutKonto zweryfikowane

TONIGHT (11/19), the Hartford City Council will hold a hearing on a proposed ordinance to take democratic control over city government surveillance. We'll be there to testify in support. Here's what you should know about the ordinance (THREAD)

The proposal, introduced by City Councilors @WizBermudez @TJ4City_Council Claudine Fox, @rJoWinch, and @drlarryoncouncl, would require city agencies, including the police, to seek & acquire Council approval before seeking funding for or acquiring surveillance technologies.

Across the country, other cities, including Somerville, Massachusetts, Seattle, Washington, Oakland, California, and Nashville, Tennessee have passed similar ordinances to ensure sure police can't acquire surveillance technologies in secret.

In Hartford, like many other cities, police currently acquire surveillance technology without seeking or getting specific City Council approval, and without meaningful public input through public hearings. This secretive process isn’t in line with good government.

The proposed ordinance in Hartford would: 1) Require City Council approval before any law enforcement entity funds, acquires, or uses any surveillance technologies (including the continued use of existing technologies)

2) Prohibit the City Council from granting approval for any surveillance technologies until the public is given a full and fair opportunity to voice its opinions before the City Council

3) Require the police or other city agency to publicly report the financial costs of using the technology and acknowledge the potential risks it poses to civil rights & liberties (and to propose legally enforceable safeguards to prevent those risks from materializing)

4) Require annual data reporting, so discriminatory or other inappropriate uses of surveillance technology can be readily identified, stopped, and penalized