Eugene exploring surveillance, privacy policies on new, existing technology – NPR for Oregonians

The city of Eugene may soon start developing a policy on its own use of surveillance technology.
City Council started discussing surveillance last year after Eugene’s rollout, then rollback of automatic license plate cameras that were linked to a national database.
During a work session on the topic Wednesday, Councilor Alan Zelenka said now that Oregon lawmakers have laid ground rules on ALPRs, the city council should adopt more tailored restrictions.
“It didn’t go far enough on security from my perspective, to me it felt like there were too many loopholes,” Zelenka said.
The city council, at this time, is not discussing bringing back ALPR cameras.
Several councilors said they’d also like policies governing any new technology Eugene could consider. They’ll also need to decide whether to review the city’s existing surveillance tools, like security cameras and drones.
Both Eugene Police and the engineering department use drones, according to city staff. Police also use dash and body cameras. The city also has security cameras and other precautions at the Hult Center, airport, and other public facilities.
Right now no part of city government uses facial recognition.
City staff said they were reviewing Portland, Berkeley and San Jose’s surveillance policies for examples.
Several city council members said they preferred San Jose’s policy the most, which requires any new technology the city is looking to acquire go through a “privacy risk assessment.” The policy applies city-wide, and technology that is at higher risk for a civil liberties violation receives more oversight.
Portland’s policy also requires its staff to do a privacy impact assessment when city staff start the process to procure new technology. The city also conducted a city-wid inventory of all technology that could be used for surveillance. Reports from that work are available to the public.
Separately, Portland banned facial recognition.
City staff said developing Eugene’s policy will likely take at least six months and they may need to do it in phases, depending on how much review they need to do of Eugene’s existing security technology, and department-specific policies that already exist.
Several council members said they wanted to give the public ample opportunity to weigh in on any privacy and surveillance policies, which could extend the timeline for the project.

source