Police department to bring real-time camera access resolution to council
The Columbia Police Department will take the next steps in crafting a resolution that could see the city adopt FUSUS real-time surveillance technology into department systems.
This resolution is expected to include the scheduling of three public meetings — two of which would focus on community education and engagement, and a third that would finalize policy regarding the program. A policy must be adopted for how the police department would utilize FUSUS before the city would pay the $315,000, three-year contract, said city manager De'Carlon Seewood at Monday's city council meeting.
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If the council were to vote down the resolution, the public meetings would not happen, as this type of vote would prevent the city from purchasing the FUSUS contract and integrating the program into the police department in the first place.
The likely funding source is a transfer of funds from the department's asset forfeiture fund to its patrol operating fund, as noted in answers from an August work session. Asset forfeiture comes from when the police department works with federal agencies to investigate financial crimes. If money is seized by a federal agency, it then can return a portion of that back to the department.
The fund is rarely tapped, said Police Chief Geoff Jones. It had no expenditures in fiscal years 2019 and 2020, according to department information.
"It has been used in the past for technology, K-9s, that sort of thing. I haven't used it since I have been chief," Jones said, answering a question from First Ward council member Pat Fowler.
The public education meetings would provide information on what the program is and how it is used before the third policy meeting where feedback is received for procedures.
Fowler and Third Ward council member Roy Lovelady noted concerns about the city purchase seeming like a foregone conclusion and that community engagement and education should come prior to a resolution to take the next steps.
Fowler used the Ash Street Improvement Project and its lengthy community engagement process as a comparison.
This didn't sit well with Fifth Ward council member Matt Pitzer, who noted the Ash Street project only started its engagement process after the approval of the 2015 Capital Improvement Plan and putting funding in place for it.
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Jones wants to wait to conduct community education and engagement until he knows the council wants to move forward with an eventual contract purchase.
"To educate people, to train people as to a product we may or may not go forward with is not in line with any practice I have seen the city do in the past, when it comes to software or any other program. I don't want to presuppose what the council is going to do," Jones said.
"I don't want to take actions that take up valuable staff time and resources before we know if we are going to move forward."
The resolution would be a tentative agreement to move forward, Seewood said.
"We won't implement anything until we have a policy in place," he said. "Before we start writing policy and developing that process, we need to understand that we have (the intention) to purchase that product."
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Real-time surveillance resolution likely at future council meeting
