Oak Ridge council approves park camera policy limiting access to law enforcement

The Town of Oak Ridge Town Council on Sept. 5 approved a surveillance information policy governing license-plate and dome cameras at entrances to two town parks, directing that footage be retained for 30 days and accessed only by law enforcement for investigations.

The policy was presented by Brock, the town manager, who said the system is being installed “in the next two weeks” and that the policy confines use to criminal investigations. “I think we’ve determined, confidently, that if we stick to the policy as proposed this evening, this is strictly for the use of law enforcement,” Brock said during the presentation. He added that staff will not have routine access and that footage will not be publicly posted.

Council members raised privacy and effectiveness questions before the vote. Councilman Stone said the system met the town’s stated objective of monitoring vehicles entering and leaving parking lots and added that he supported the policy. “There’s always going to be a question about, over time, is the system going to help law enforcement? Don’t know. The best we can do is say we have a system that we’re trying to do that with,” Stone said. Several council members encouraged residents to avoid leaving valuables in vehicles as the cameras are an investigative tool rather than a prevention panacea.

The policy also requires that law-enforcement requests be timely; Brock told the council that data is destroyed after 30 days unless retained as part of a formal investigation and that access to evidence transferred on physical media would be governed by law-enforcement rules. The council approved the policy by voice vote.