Council members wary of cameras

D.C. Council members yesterday expressed concerns about Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s plan to give police access to more than 5,000 closed-circuit TV cameras citywide, saying the initiative should be scrutinized and will require accountability.

“I think we have to look at it, that’s what I’m suggesting,” said Mary M. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat. “There’s a line there. All I can say now is I’m not fully aware of the ramifications, but it’s something that’s on my mind.”

The Fenty administration’s Video Interoperability for Public Safety program will consolidate more than 5,200 cameras operated by D.C. agencies into one network managed by the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

The actively monitored program is funded through the mayor’s proposed fiscal 2009 budget, a Fenty spokeswoman said.

Civil liberties groups say the devices could intrude on privacy.

Phil Mendelson, chairman of the council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, said the consolidation does not require council approval of the budget because Mr. Fenty could implement the initiative through other means.

“The difference here is instead of coming to the council asking for money for a program, they are converting existing cameras and avoiding the council,” said Mr. Mendelson, at-large Democrat. “They figured out a way to do this that circumvents the council.”

Mr. Fenty has championed the initiative as an efficient way to consolidate and improve the District’s capabilities in public safety, traffic safety, countersurveillance and emergency response.

Mrs. Cheh said she sees a need for some camera surveillance on public space but that a gradually expanding network could create civil liberty concerns.

Council member Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat, said he is “open-minded” about Mr. Fenty’s plan but that it requires “accountability measures” and safeguards against targeting residents in poor neighborhoods. He said the council should hold a hearing on the initiative.

“We have to be very careful about how we implement or draft laws that could affect civil liberties, but I think at the same time this program can be used in a positive way,” Mr. Thomas said.

Under the plan, the number of cameras in high-crime areas monitored by the Metropolitan Police Department will increase from 92 to 225, though Mr. Fenty said police and other agencies also will have access to 1,388 outside cameras and 3,874 cameras inside buildings throughout the city.

Council member Marion Barry, Ward 8 Democrat, called the initiative “fantastic.”

“In my community, people want more cameras, not less,” he said. “This is public; it’s not anybody’s house. This is on public space and activities that are public.”

Darrell Darnell, director of the city’s homeland security agency, said officials will adhere to rules such as those governing how the police department’s cameras are monitored, until more comprehensive regulations can be developed.

Two years ago, officials said the devices would be passively monitored by police and required that the police chief provide public notice, with some exceptions. Police pledged to post signs in neighborhoods where cameras were deployed.

But police Chief Cathy L. Lanier last year allowed officers to actively monitor the cameras.

Mr. Mendelson said he had no faith that officials would follow the existing rules.

“The rules we have pertain to the police,” he said. “Now you’re going to have a [D.C. Department of Transportation] engineer, if he feels like it, take the camera and focus it on a pretty person … walking down the street.”