Community Groups Rally in Opposition to Surveillance Plans

The Central New York Chapter is working with a broad coalition of community groups to bring transparency, fairness and a concern about privacy rights to the Syracuse Police Department's plans to install surveillance cameras in low income communities of color.

In September, the Police Department presented the city's Common Council with a proposal to spend a $125,000 federal grant to install nine surveillance cameras in the Near West Side neighborhood. The proposal was termed a "pilot program," meaning the use of surveillance cameras could be expanded to additional neighborhoods. Sure enough, a day after unveiling the proposal , the Police Department requested the Common Council's permission to accept an additional $84,000 in homeland security funds to install five more surveillance cameras at Pioneer Homes, a public housing project near the Syracuse University.

The coalition, United as One, held a rally on Nov. 10 outside City Hall to express its concerns about the surveillance proposals. The coalition is circulating a petition that calls for more public participation in the discussion over the surveillance proposals and legislative action to protect people's privacy and new efforts to improve police-community relations.

Chapter Director Barrie Gewanter addressed the Common Council on the surveillance issue on Nov. 8. Click here to read the statement (PDF).

The coalition's next steps are to demand:

• The creation of a mechanism to gather public input on surveillance proposals that includes community representatives from across the city.
• That the Common Council not approve the installation of surveillance cameras until it enacts legislation to guide and limit the use of these cameras and safeguard people's privacy.
• An end date for the proposed pilot program on the Near West Side.