Proposed bill that would put closer eye on Baltimore's surveillance technology hits roadblock
BALTIMORE -- A proposed city commission could have put a closer eye on Baltimore's surveillance technology, but a city council committee may have effectively killed it Wednesday.
The bill, which has been in the works for more than a year, would have created the Community Advisory Commission on Surveillance. It was discussed at a hearing of the Public Safety and Government Operations Committee on Wednesday.
District 8 Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, the bill's sponsor, wanted more oversight on the city's surveillance network.
"This is my last bill as a member of this body," Burnett said. "[I want this bill to] provide a framework that the citizens and city council moving forward can utilize to better understand how this is impacting everyday citizens."
The goal of the Community Advisory Commission
The proposed commission would have been made up of 11 members with varying backgrounds in urban governments, civil rights, police oversight, as well as technology and ethics.
As a body, it would have created guidelines for the city's surveillance technologies.
Concerns with the bill
At the hearing, different city agencies gave their thoughts, but representatives for the Baltimore Police Department had the most concerns.
Police representatives said the bill didn't address the forensics side of surveillance use.
"Another concern that we have was requiring us to collect demographic data on all of the people we would identify in our work," a representative said. "Foresics is in the business of actually scrubbing that out."
Amendments to the concerns
For nearly two hours, Burnett introduced amendments to address concerns made during the hearing. But, in the end, the committee failed 3-2 in support of the bill, failing to reach the four votes needed for a favorable report.
Burnett let his disappointment be known.
"The committee has chosen not to support the will of the citizenry in better protecting ourselves from potential abuses of their civil rights," Burnett said.
This bill could still be presented to the full city council but without a favorable report from the committee. It likely wouldn't pass if it did.