Abilene City Council voted on October 26th to pass a resolution allowing real-time camera integration for the police department, with some citizens concerned over a possible invasion of privacy.
The City of Abilene is officially entering the modern age of technology. Abilene’s City Council voted October 26 in favor of allowing the “integration of cameras owned by the city of Abilene and TxDOT into the real-time information center for the Police Department,” according to Councilman Shane Price.
What this means in layman’s terms is that now the police department will have real-time access to existing cameras located across the city. These will include state- and city-owned cameras and will allow the police to do their job more efficiently and, hopefully, more successfully.
A similar resolution passed just last year in San Francisco. According to the office of the mayor in that city, lawmakers passed a resolution to “clarify and explicitly authorize law enforcement to temporarily use non-city owned cameras” to respond to the challenges presented by various types of crime.
Safety in technology or Big Brother?
While this may concern some members of the public as being a bit on the “Big Brother” scale, this is a common occurrence across the U.S. In fact, some residents of a suburb of Chicago are even demanding more cameras be installed to help curb the amount of violence and crime nearby, according to a recent news segment from NBC 5 Chicago.
Additionally, studies show that the installation of surveillance cameras should actually reduce crime rates. In a study by the Economic Journal, researchers found that crime rates decreased by approximately 25% after the installation of cameras in the Stockholm Subway in 2006.
Interim APD Chief Doug Wrenn is hoping for a similar effect here in Abilene, stating that the police department wants to use camera integration to increase safety and security, especially at night in downtown Abilene.
Potential issues with privacy
Some members of the public brought forth one major issue to the October 26 city council meeting. According to emails sent to the council, their apprehension resides with cameras situated on intersections which provide a direct line of sight into some backyards. They were “concerned about unauthorized surveillance of private property.” If these cameras are utilized, this could therefore constitute an invasion of privacy.
Now, while these concerned citizens were not in favor of turning off all city cameras completely, they did hope that portions of the camera’s line of sight could be blocked or blacked out so as to avoid this possible invasion of privacy.
At the city council meeting, Wrenn noted that VGI, the company providing this integration technology, does not have the ability or current technology to blur certain sections of the camera’s view. Wrenn’s and city council’s idea was therefore to not utilize said cameras until the company could acquire that technology.
In an exclusive interview with Abilene Reporter News, Wrenn emphasized that the police department is “proud to be transparent,” noting that the police department will actually only use up to 100 cameras in the integration of this new control center.
For the cameras in question overlooking private residences, the Abilene Police Department simply will not integrate those cameras into the new information center. Instead, according to Wrenn, the department will be “diligent in selecting cameras” that do not have any views of residential areas to reach that target number of 100.
Wrenn also stressed that the idea is to “leverage currently owned cameras that are already on city buildings,” with a focus on ensuring the safety of downtown instead of spying on private citizens.
A look to the future
As a result of the concerned citizens, City Council planned an “administrative directive” stating that until VGI has that capability to blur sections of the images, those cameras will remain off. This will give the Abilene Police Department the flexibility to turn those cameras on when new technology arises without having to go through city council to do so.
According to City Manager Robert Hanna, this council policy would be the key to allowing for some flexibility in a changing technological world. Hanna also wanted to demonstrate to the public that the city of Abilene takes the right to privacy very seriously.
Currently, the City of Abilene faces a moderate amount of crime in a typical year, with the highest rate of crimes being those related to theft. According to 2022 police statistics the city experienced approximately 2,500 instances of auto theft, burglary, and general theft combined. Wrenn hopes that the installation of this real-time information center will help stem the flow of such crimes in the city.
According to Hanna, the “intent is not to become big brother” but to instead use public domain cameras to help the police department provide a safer environment. In this day and age of doorbell cameras and home security, the city of Abilene will soon become a modern beacon of public safety.
