"The City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to buy more than a dozen surveillance cameras, the final approval needed in a contentious, yearslong effort to expand the Berkeley Police Department's surveillance network. Privacy and immigration advocates fear the network will become a tool in President Donald Trump's deportation campaign particularly after Georgia-based Flock Safety, the manufacturer of the proposed cameras, was accused of violating a state law in Illinois that forbade the sharing of certain data with federal agents."
"Berkeley police have used automated license plate readers built by Flock since October, and have credited the network with several high-profile arrests, including one last week of a man they believe burglarized a pizzeria, auto shop and wine store and another in August of a man they said masterminded robberies in Berkeley, Oakland and Vacaville. The readers take snapshots of passing vehicles and run the plates through law enforcement databases to determine if a vehicle is wanted for a crime."
"The locations and ground rules for their use were approved in July, but BPD is returning to the council Tuesday night to get approval for the actual purchase for $310,000, with an option to extend the contract for a maximum of $600,000. Privacy advocates object on principle to Berkeley expanding its surveillance network. And following Trump's return to office on a promise of m"
Berkeley plans to install 16 additional surveillance cameras at intersections, expanding an existing network that includes cameras in San Pablo Park and two other locations. The Berkeley Police Department has used Flock-built automated license plate readers since October and attributes several high-profile arrests to the system. Flock's cameras would record footage at 16 locations for police review rather than automatic plate matching. Allegations that Flock violated an Illinois law forbidding the sharing of certain data with federal agents have raised fears about data access by federal immigration authorities. The City Council faces a vote on a $310,000 purchase with contract options up to $600,000.
Read at www.berkeleyside.org
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