By JEANETTE WOLFBERG
HUDSON–The Columbia County Board of Supervisors authorized the County MIS Department to “purchase and oversee the installation of” new Verkada security cameras at nine locations using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, at its meeting February 14. The new cameras include facial recognition technology and license plate readers, and some are to be located where they could “surveil public locations…such as neighboring residences,” Supervisor Michael Chameides (Hudson, 3rd Ward) pointed out in a statement January 16. Therefore, he suggested a policy that “respects” the community’s privacy while taking into account its “safety needs.” He expected fellow supervisors to review his recommendations at the next county Government Committee meeting on April 17.
The new cameras are planned for a highway location at Route 23B, the Solid Waste facility at 51 Newman Road, both in Greenport, and seven places in Hudson: the Courthouse, the Department of Social Services building, 325 Columbia Street (Department of Human Services), 560 Warren Street, 15 North 6th Street, 401 State Street, and 11 Warren Street. Many of these places already have security cameras, which the new ones would replace, but the new cameras will be the first to have facial recognition and license plate reading. Mr. Chameides estimated, in a conversation, that camera installation could be completed at about the end of the year. The cameras come with 10 year licenses and warranties, according to the County Board.
The board authorized the county to spend up to $350,000 on the new cameras. Funds are to come from the ARPA, which the US Congress enacted in 2021 to help municipalities overcome negative economic impacts of the Covid crisis. A municipality must return any ARPA money it does not use by the end of 2024 to the federal government.
The purpose of the security cameras is to “deter crime; identify potential criminal activity; investigate criminal activity and [other] violations; assist responders in determining the nature of alarms; and enhance the safety, security, and quality of life for the community,” Mr. Chameides said in his statement. With that he recommended:
•Making “off” the default setting for the cameras’ facial recognition and license plate readers. Turning them on only when clearly-designated persons determine that doing so is necessary for public safety
•Prohibiting the use of cameras for profiling based on characteristics, such as race and disability, or practices
•Placing the cameras where they cannot see locations where society expects privacy, such as restrooms or “private offices”
•Adjusting the cameras so that the windows and doors of private residences in their view will always appear as solid black rectangles
•“Conspicuously posting” signs in “recorded areas” announcing the cameras’ presence
•Not allowing use of the cameras “to serve private interests” or “to satisfy personal curiosity”
•Establishing protocols for accessing, sharing, copying, modifying, storing, retaining, and deleting camera footage.
The cameras must not be used to read somebody’s personal computer screen or see who visits a private residence, Mr. Chameides added in a conversation with The Columbia Paper on April 2.
