Proposed Amendments to the Vallejo Surveillance Board Ordinance
“File:Stingray.png” by EFF is licensed under CC BY 3.0
The Vallejo City Council will hear the latest round of suggested amendments to its Surveillance Board on November 9, a proposed ad-hoc assemblage of citizens and privacy experts which will serve as a watchdog over Vallejo Police technology. Tracey Rosenberg has sent me a list of the amendments:
1) Allowing outside experts like Oakland Privacy, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), ACLU, academics, researchers, and lawyers to participate in discussions or present to the board as long as they do so free of charge.
2) Making sure the board is consulted before the adoption of any new or modified policies for surveillance equipment use or activities.
3) Confirming that exigent use in an emergency must be reported to the board for a revew no later than 30 days after use. (getting rid of a vague “as soon as possible”).
4) A definition of what “privileged” information means that restricts it to items covered by attorney client privilege (relating to what information the board can ask for).
5) A prohibition on board appointees being former employees of a law enforcement agency.
6) Interviews for seats on the board held at a public meeting.
7) Members of the public have the legal right to pursue enforcement of the terms of the ordinance if violated.
8) Preventing cancellation of board meetings without the explicit permission of the chair and vice-chair of the board.
Both the ACLU and Oakland Privacy were gladdened that Vallejo was open to creating the board, and even happier when City Attorney Veronica Nebb agreed to agendize its discussion at an earlier date than originally proposed. But then they saw an edited version of the ordinance. You can read my story about that here.
The VPD uses various technologies to track stolen cars, such as license plate readers, as well as cell-site simulators to track suspects.
Tune into the Council meeting on November 9…
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