Boston City Council Reviews 26 Surveillance Technologies in First Mandated Annual Report

BOSTON — July 31, 2024 — Boston City Council examines 26 surveillance technologies in city's first mandated oversight report. The Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, chaired by Councilor Henry Santana, held a day-long informational hearing on Docket 1114, the city's 2023 Annual Surveillance Report — the first produced under the Surveillance Oversight and Information Sharing Ordinance. The Boston Police Department accounts for 19 of the 26 technologies covered. Santiago Garces, the city's chief information officer, apologized for the report arriving six weeks past its May 31 deadline, telling the council "our commitment is that we'll work to get it on time next year." Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts flagged that surveillance cameras are disproportionately concentrated in communities of color — 406 in Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester compared to 10 in West Roxbury and Hyde Park combined — and that the number one use of camera footage requests was to investigate traffic accidents, not violent crime. Alex Matthews of Digital Fourth called on the council to consider legislation ending the gang assessment database, noting that 96 percent of people in it already appear in other BPD records and citing a court ruling that found the database criminalized ordinary behaviors of minority youth. The BPD confirmed its cell site simulator was used twice in 2023 under exigent circumstances, with all non-targeted data purged afterward. The $13 million federal Homeland Security UASI grant that funds surveillance technology across nine metro jurisdictions has carried auditor-flagged sub-recipient compliance deficiencies dating to 2008.