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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
The fight for police access to private surveillance video in Nashville is not quite over as new legislation has been filed by Metro Council members.
In December, the Council rejected a proposal that would have allowed law enforcement officials to gain access to surveillance cameras privately owned by local businesses. That proposal would have established a contract with Fusus, the company that would have pulled video footage from private cameras and shared it with local police.
Councilmembers were divided on the idea, with some having concerns about the potential for privacy breaches and targeting of minorities, illegal aliens, or the homeless.
The new proposal, cosponsored by Councilmembers Rollin Horton and Brenda Gadd, would create guidelines to be used by police to gain that access.
Businesses would have the option of participating. Those who choose to allow law enforcement to have access would be provided with hardware that would connect to their video equipment and allow police to have instant access to all videos.
Guidelines would have to be publicly posted and regular audits would be done to ensure that police were following them.
Horton told Axios that the new proposal was better because it would implement additional protections that the first did not.
“There were no legal safeguards in place for the first Fusus contract. Safeguards matter,” Horton said. “If our city is considering investing in this technology, we need to ensure it’s used the way (and only in the way) we intend, with guardrails and consequences for misuse.”
Gadd echoed that sentiment, saying, “By setting clear boundaries for a community safety camera network, we can better protect privacy, uphold civil rights, and build trust between law enforcement and our community.”
