The Columbia City Council voted four to three against the purchase of Fusus monitoring software for the Columbia Police Department after a contentious public hearing at its meeting Monday night.
First Ward Councilman Pat Fowler, second Ward Councilman Andrea Wanier, third Ward Councilman Roy Lovelady, and fourth Ward Councilman Nick Foster voted against the purchase, citing concerns about transparency, privacy, and fairness.
“It’s really disappointing to see how cavalier we have been in normalizing surveillance,” Wannier said.
Mayor Barbara Buffalo, Fifth House Member Matt Pitzer, and Sixth Cabinet Member Betsy Peters voted in favor of the program favored by Chief of Police Geoff Jones.
The vote came after nearly four hours of commentary in which council members, residents and community leaders asked questions about the program and expressed their support and opposition to its implementation.
Many Vosos supporters have argued the need to support the police in solving crimes more quickly and accurately as well as helping to prevent or reduce crime. Opponents of the program have raised concerns about possible privacy breaches by the police and a lack of transparency during the process of pushing the department into the program.
However, the issue will return to the board in the coming months after Waner asked staff to draft an ordinance to oversee monitoring procedures that could eventually lead to approval of the purchase of a similar system.
The software will allow the police department to view real-time camera footage from businesses and individuals who opt into the program. Camera owners will have the option to grant, limit or revoke police access at any time.
Jones responded to a question from Nick Foster, the 4th House member, by saying that the police would only use the cameras in the event of a major event.
“If we’re going to do a private operation, which we’ve done in the past, and use physical monitoring, the supervisor can authorize a live camera view in that instance,” Jones said. “But once we get access to the live view cameras, we prohibit by our public surveillance policy and procedures. We are not here just to monitor people.”
Foster also asked if the software would be used for festivals and other large events downtown, and Jones said it could be used in that case for traffic and crowd concerns.
Jones noted that although the software has a facial recognition feature, the police will not use it.
Fowler asked Jones if he or police officials had spoken to a variety of specific business and local interest groups about Fusus and their potential concerns in order to make a point about its perceived lack of community input.
Many groups and individuals have been invited to meetings related to the program, Jones said, including those Fowler asked him to include.
Lovelady noted that despite the department’s outreach efforts, many of his constituents in Ward III were not reached during the process and did not support implementation of the program.
“If I can’t do anything else, I can go out and knock on doors,” he said, listing some of the concerns he heard.
Jack Howard, Fusus’ public safety advisor, answered questions from the board. Responding to a question from Fowler, he said the program in Oak Lawn, Illinois, is very similar to the proposal put forward by the Columbia Police.
Lovelady asked about the time frame in which the video footage would remain stored on the servers after the police had access to it. Jones said the video used as evidence in the cases will be stored for the duration of the investigation and trial.
Other storage for accessed video, Howard said, depends on which cores the city chooses to buy.
“Some cores generally have a day or two of storage,” he said. In the situation with Atlanta, they said, “Hey, we’d like a bigger core for longer storage.” This kernel stores up to 30 days. So it just depends on what kernel you guys want.
Several community leaders and members of the public have spoken out in support of Vosos. Nicky Davis, CEO of The District, said Fusus would be very useful to small businesses downtown to help prevent and stop crime.
“This is something that directly impacts our business on a daily basis,” she said.
Columbia Public Schools Principal Brian Yearwood talked about how the program can provide vital information in dangerous situations.
“As part of this ongoing relationship, we regularly share information in times of crisis,” he said. “The precious seconds that would be gained by allowing the Columbia Police Department access to security cameras could mean the difference between life and death for all employees and anyone in our buildings or campuses.”
There were also many opponents of the program, many of whom cited privacy concerns. Resident Kate Canterbury said she was saddened and angry that The District supported the use of the programme.
‘I can guarantee you,’ she said, ‘I myself will order sunshine, if it succeeds, every business giving the right to have their cameras used by the police’, ‘for I want to know who would like to sell me to the council, the police, the town, (and) Who is willing to trade my privacy (and) my kids every day because I won’t shop at your business anymore.”
District Attorney Sharon Galloway-Jones addressed concerns shared by many about the transparency of the software’s use and potential for abuse. She suggested an alternative for the Board to consider.
“If we go by what they’re doing in many other communities that have either adopted community safety cameras or the Fusus system and pass what’s called a community oversight over police surveillance, or a CCOPS ordinance,” she said. “We will be able to put law-level safeguards in place on how this data is used, when and how police can do live surveillance, when and how they can access residential cameras, and when and how AI recognition can be used.
Waner later introduced a motion to require employees to reinstate legislation implementing the CCOPS ordinance, which was unanimously approved by the council.
CPRB onboarding
The Council discussed the qualification processes for the new members of the Citizens Police Review Board during the previous working session of the Council.
City Councilor Nancy Thompson explained how the process has worked in the past.
“So the actual setting is a conversation that happens… along with providing access to all the materials,” she said. “And then historically, there was a training for the CPRB that would happen on Saturday and many speakers would come in on multiple topics and give background information.”
Thompson noted that preparation could include members reviewing training materials from the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) as well as learning about Columbia’s policies and practices.
Mayor Barbara Buffalo has expressed interest in scheduling a rehab hearing for Saturday. Fowler raised concerns about the impact of the law known as Senate Bill 26 on the work of the House.
“I know from the numbers announced at the meeting that since Senate Bill 26 passed and its effective date, although there have been approximately 62 complaints filed with the police department, only one has been appealed,” Fowler said.
Giving new CPRB members primary preparation should be the immediate priority, said Andrea Wanner, chair of the Division II Board.
“I think we need to include people in the basic sense of ‘This is your job, this is the history of the CPRB,’ and give them the tools they need to be able to review appeals,” Wanner said.
She added that the preparation process should coincide with the council having a conversation about the council’s function and model.
“In the past year, we have received a lot of information (from board members),” she said. “They are unable to do their job, and they have told us what they need to do. They need us to explore, change and evaluate our existing work in relation to that.”