A camera-equipped smart streetlight in the Gaslamp District. Photo: Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The San Diego City Council last night agreed with Mayor Todd Gloria that the city needs to refine how it approves the use of surveillance technologies.
State of play: Nearly 18 months after adopting the Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance (TRUST) ordinance, the council voted 6-2 to amend the law, with council president Sean Elo-Rivera and councilmember Vivian Moreno voting against.
The majority argued the ordinance was an inefficient work in progress that extended review to uncontroversial technologies — like key-card access to city facilities — that applied only to employees, not the public.
Catch up quick: TRUST required the city and an oversight board to review and approve all surveillance technology before it could be used — a requirement the city determined included more than 300 items.
Last year, the city reapproved the use of "smart" streetlights equipped with surveillance cameras and automated license plate readers.
The other side: Civil liberties activists agreed some items weren't surveillance tech and could be exempt, but stressed that others — like city access to ARJIS, a shared database for regional law enforcement agencies — need oversight.
"What the mayor is proposing is a broad and dramatic rewrite of the ordinance," said Mytili Bala, democracy council for the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.
