Baltimore Police Department & CitiWatch

1. Baltimore Police Department &CitiWatch https://www.baltimorepolice.org/community/citiwatch-community-partnership-overview

2. Baltimore’s CitiWatch is a Community-Partnership. “The CitiWatch Community Partnership is an innovative, public-private partnership whereby residents help make Baltimore City safer by sharing important information and valuable resources with the Baltimore Police Department in order to apprehend criminals. The Community Partnership is a voluntary registry that contains the location and owner information of privately-owned surveillance systems – information that is extremely valuable to the Baltimore Police Department in the event of a crime. Information provided is confidential and only accessed if necessary for an investigation. This cooperative community effort enables faster and more effective responses to crime, and saves precious public dollars and law enforcement resources.” https://www.baltimorepolice.org/community/citiwatch-community-partnership-overview

3. “Will the City have access to my camera feeds? The CitiWatch Community Partnership registry contains only basic information about the location, type, and owner of a camera. Feeds will only be accessed by the Baltimore Police Department with the permission of the camera owner, and only then in the event of a crime. Participants are contacted only if the police believe their camera footage can be useful in the identification, apprehension, or prosecution of a suspected criminal.” Watch Local News reporting on Baltimore CitiWatch: WBALTV WJZ

4. REMEMBER THE 4TH AMENDMENT? APPLIES TO GOVERNMENT ACTORS

5. The 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution • Provides that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

6. PRIVATE VIDEO SURVEILLANCEIS NOT PROTECTED BY THE 4TH AMENDMENT OF THE US CONSTITUTIONRemember, only government actors can violate your constitutional rights. Owners of private property may use privately owned video security cameras to record in real time, human activity that surrounds their private property. When you are out on the street, you are in plain view, and should know you have no expectation of privacy. Anything you do can be witnessed and may be recorded.

7. Government owned cameras that watch you in public place does not violated your 4th Amendment rights . Where you have no expectation of privacy because you are out in public in plain view, the government actor may observe your activity, therefore, government actor is not violating your 4th Amendment right to privacy. By walking outside your home, into the public view, on public streets, you consent to being watched by anyone or any camera. Right to Privacy Always inside your home! Police must have a warrant to search inside your bag, luggage, trunk, container, clothes, etc.

8. So the cameras can watch and record your movements, legally, without violating your 4th Amendment rights. What if a surveillance camera ends up recording you when you open your backpack, pocketbook, computer bag, the trunk of your car or the camera records what you are looking at on your phone or computer? Ordinarily, subject to some exceptions, police must have probable cause and in most cases a warrant to search inside your belongings or search your cellphone or computer. Is the video recording of the of inside your belongings a “search” in violation of your 4th Amendment right to privacy? What if the video camera recording is owned and operated by a private company? What if the private company consents to the government’s use of the private video feed captured on the privately owned camera? Is it a search under the 4th Amendment? YOU be the JUDGE!

9. Watch WJZ report on the release of video from a police officer’s body camera. Notice the faces of people on camera are covered so you don’t know their identity, to protect their privacy. WJZ But, what if one of the individuals on camera was captured engaging in criminal activity? Does Maryland law allow police to use video images and facial recognition software to identify the person so to arrest him/her for the crime? Facial Recognition in Maryland “The Maryland Image Repository System (MIRS) is facial recognition software that allows law enforcement officers to compare images of unidentified individuals to images from State motor vehicle records and mugshots.” Here is a memo with more info on MIRS if you would like to read it. Watch: Police used facial recognition technology to help identify uncooperative suspect in Capital Gazette shooting.

10. Extra Additional reading & viewing: Singer, Natasha. “Microsoft Urges Congress to Regulate Use of Facial Recognition.” The New York Times. July 13, 2018. Orenstein, James. “I’m a Judge. Here’s How Surveillance Is Challenging Our Legal System.” June 13, 2019. O’Neill, James. “How Facial Recognition Makes You Safer.” The New York Times. June 9, 2019. Chokshi, Niraj. “How Surveillance Cameras Could Be Weaponized With A.I.” The New York Times. June 13, 2019. Pichai, Sundar. “Google’s SundarPichai: Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good.” The New York Times. May 7, 2019. Watch: NBC LEARN Modern Surveillance and Privacy C-Span Surveillance-In general