How San Diego gets surveillance tech approved
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When the City of San Diego wants to add new surveillance tools to its arsenal, it must first go through a public review process.
Catch up quick: City departments evaluate new tools to see if they meet the definition of surveillance technology under the city's Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology (TRUST) ordinance.
- The law was created in 2022 in response to controversy over the undisclosed use of streetlight cameras.
- It requires City Council and the Privacy Advisory Board to review and approve all surveillance technology before police can use it.
- If the technology meets the criteria, it triggers the surveillance oversight process, San Diego Police Department Lt. Kristopher McAndrew explained.
Yes, but: The law was amended in 2024 to say tools like databases and security cameras do not have to get public review.
How it works: SDPD writes a use policy that's presented in community meetings for every district where that technology is going to be deployed. That's typically a public meeting at one central location that's broadcast to other locations staffed with an officer to field questions, McAndrew said.
- The comments from those meetings inform an impact report written by SDPD.
- Police present those two documents to the privacy board, which has 90 days to evaluate and approve the technology with any recommendations.
- Then the Public Safety Committee and the full City Council take a final vote on the tech.
Finally, SDPD puts together an annual report of how the surveillance technology was used.