Don't Let SFPD Co-opt Private Cameras

Act Now

The San Francisco Police Department wants to create a dangerous, new surveillance program that is unprecedented in city history. It would let SFPD co-opt private cameras owned by businesses, residents, and organizations to conduct sweeping live surveillance.

The thousands of private cameras in our city – from doorbell cameras to devices outside businesses – should not be part of the police's surveillance arsenal.

If you care about protecting fundamental rights and want our city to be a place where people can feel safe getting reproductive care, protesting injustice, or simply going about their daily lives – then contact your supervisor and the Mayor today.

Message Recipients:
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Mayor London Breed
Police Chief Scott

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Subject

I write as one of your many constituents who deeply oppose SFPD's proposed policy to obtain sweeping access to private surveillance cameras. As written, this policy is a danger to our fundamental rights and threatens the safety of people getting reproductive care, protesting injustice, or simply going about their daily lives.

Message Body

The policy as written doesn't adequately protect people's First Amendment rights. It would allow SFPD to co-opt private cameras to live monitor, record, and stockpile footage, keeping it for years. And it fails to explain exactly how SFPD will seek permission from camera owners, raising the risk of coercive demands to residents and businesses.

SFPD's proposal also risks exposing people to surveillance by out-of-state and federal agencies. As written, SFPD's proposal places no meaningful limit on sharing footage, meaning that the information collected could be plugged into a national surveillance infrastructure, often used to target those the government wants to criminalize.

The concern that SFPD could misuse surveillance technology or the personal information derived from it is not a hypothetical one - SFPD previously used private cameras to spy on the 2020 George Floyd protests. Also, as was widely reported, the department faced criticism for exploiting a database of DNA collected from sexual assault victims to identify them as possible criminal suspects. These are just two recent examples from SFPD's history of racial discrimination, retaliation, and over-policing.

To protect the rights of San Franciscans, especially Black people, pregnant people, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and other groups most frequently targeted by the police and government, the Board should not approve SFPD's proposal as written. We should all be able to safely exercise our rights and go about our lives without fear of police surveillance.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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Don't Let SFPD Co-opt Private Cameras

Act Now

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