The body approved new regulations for surveillance technologies that might threaten the personal liberties and privacy of city residents.
Ward 1 Councilor Kenny Warren authored the new law.
“This has been an issue that lots of communities have been looking at, both in Massachusetts and outside of Massachusetts, dealing with software that has some surveillance capabilities that could possibly have some negative impact on our citizens," he said. "The Massachusetts ACLU had put together a draft petition that I happened to come across, and then I noticed that at the time, this was a while ago, at the time, Cambridge and Amherst had taken it up.”
The law specifies that it is intended to shield marginalized communities that would be disproportionately impacted by surveillance technology, and requires the city to specifically identify and monitor said impact on those groups regularly. It also establishes guidelines about what technology falls under the ordinance’s purview and mandates a yearly report from the mayor’s office on how it is being used.
The tech that now must be approved by the city council before use and have subsequent uses documented under law includes automatic license plate readers, gunshot detection and location hardware and services, closed-circuit television cameras, and social media monitoring software.
Chief Thomas Dawley of the Pittsfield Police Department was involved in Warren’s work developing the bill.
“My main concern was criminal investigations," he told the council. "Obviously, that's something that we have to keep close to the chest and something that, the community, we can't let out into the community to compromise the investigations. I certainly don't want any control of the cameras. If we need the cameras, or we need footage from the cameras, certainly that would be through a search warrant, through the courts. So, I'm not opposed to it at all. Just, my ask is during criminal investigations, if such arise, that the case can't be, it won't be compromised by that.”
Warren offered assurances that the final ordinance accommodates that concern.
“There is a process that criminal defendants can get discovery, and they have to go through the court through a Rule 17 motion, which has to be approved by a judge," he explained. "So, this made it very clear that this would not impede on investigations. It's not designed to do that. It's designed to its overall use, not its use in particular cases that are assisting us in making sure we enforce the laws we're supposed to.”
Ward 3 Councilor Matthew Wrinn asked Warren to clarify that the language of the bill wouldn’t hinder emergency responses.
“When you indicate exigent circumstances, I should hope that we don’t have to go through a search warrant if there's a life-or-death situation, like an Amber Alert or anything like that," said Wrinn.
“This deals with the software," Warren responded. "This doesn't deal with the investigations themselves. Okay? So, they, the police- This doesn't have anything to do with the police operations. It's the software. It's to make sure that no software is purchased and used by the city without the city council first knowing about it and approving it.”
The council also approved a petition from Warren and Ward 2 Councilor Brittany Noto calling on the administration of Democratic Governor Maura Healey to appoint at least one Associate Justice of the Appeals Court from Western Massachusetts — and specifically from the Berkshires.
“It is not a normal petition, but it's just about supporting regional diversity on our appeals court," said Noto. "For those who don't know, we have a chief justice at the appeals court and then 24 associate justices. Right now, we do have one that served from Pittsfield specifically- That's Justice Paul Smith. But I think that it's really important that the diverse perspectives that we offer from this county in particular are represented in our intermediate appellate court. So, this is just about supporting regional diversity, that's all. So, I encourage councilors to support this. I think it's really important that Berkshire County has represented more on our appeals court.”
Noto supported an amendment from At-Large Councilor Kathy Amuso to up the request to two Associate Justices from Western Mass.
“Vacancies are filled as they come up, and what happens is the governor makes the nomination, and the Governor’s Council confirms that nomination. Two more were announced just this past October that are waiting for confirmation. I think Middlesex and Suffolk counties are constantly represented. So I would agree with you, the more the merrier.”
Berkshire County won a rare voice on the Governor’s Council when Tara Jacobs of North Adams secured the District 8 seat in the 2022 election. Jacobs has been vocal about the need for regional equity in the commonwealth’s criminal legal system, and has called on Healey to fill judicial vacancies as recently as this summer.
