City Council Approves Surveillance Technologies Despite Resident Pushback

The Cambridge City Council narrowly approved the Cambridge Police Department’s request to obtain two surveillance technologies amid fierce pushback from residents, but postponed voting on the purchase and use of drones by city police.

Police Commissioner Christine A. Elow said in remarks to the City Council on Monday evening that CPD needs surveillance drones to “improve situational awareness,” help locate missing persons, and provide evidence in criminal cases.

But nearly 30 Cambridge residents pushed back against the police department’s request during public comment, voicing concerns that data collected by CPD using new surveillance technology could be shared with the federal government.

“With a slew of executive orders coming from the White House right now, people don't feel safe in our communities already,” Jennifer Warren, a Cambridge resident, told the council.

“Tacking on continued surveillance is only going to heighten the sense of unrest and feeling unsafe where we live,” she added.

Despite the pushback, in a 6-3 vote, the council approved roughly 15 to 20 Automated License Plate Recognition units — fixed cameras that capture images of license plates, turns the license plate to a text file, and stores the data for 30 days. The cameras will not record sound or video, and cannot be viewed in real time, according to a report on the technology filed by CPD.

“We are fully committed to balancing the needs of effective law enforcement with the protection of individual rights,” Elow said, noting that the license plate software will not use facial recognition.

Still, some residents fear that data collected will be used by the federal government to target undocumented residents amid heightened immigration enforcement nationwide — despite Cambridge’s sanctuary city ordinance.

“ALPR technology, like the one produced here, are shared expansively across agencies,” Cambridge resident Tesla Wells said in public comment.

“This means Cambridge residents will be surveilled — not just by the CPD — but would enable surveillance of Cambridge residents by agencies on a state and federal level.”

City solicitor Megan Bayer affirmed CPD’s compliance with the sanctuary city ordinance, noting that they do not “voluntarily do the work of federal immigration officials or provide information.”

The council also approved a “GrayKey” device, which will allow the police to access data from locked phones, though they must obtain a warrant, consent from the owner, or prove exigent circumstances. Currently, CPD can only access this device through the state.

Elow attributed a lack of evidence that has left a slew of recent homicides uncharged to the absence of technology necessary to solve the crime.

“It's just a tool that we utilize anyway, and this would put us at the top of the line as far as investigations go,” Elow said.

“We're still trying to get a phone analyzed from our homicide last year,” she added.

Although Cambridge residents have expressed concern about gun violence in the city — including a fatal shooting less than three weeks ago — residents at the meeting lacked confidence that increasing surveillance will solve the issue.

“The timing of this seems like a way of preying on concerns about public safety, capitalizing on tragedy in order to expand their budget and expand their militarized capacities,” said Sean Joyce-Farley, a resident of North Cambridge, where a 21-year-old was fatally shot last month.

While the council ultimately approved two CPD surveillance technologies, they referred the discussion on drones to the council’s Public Safety Committee.

“It's just the normalization of increasing militarization of police technology is super concerning on another level,” Mila Halgren, a member of MIT Coalition Against Apartheid, said in an interview before the council meeting.

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.