Grand Rapids OPA: FY24 surveillance report finds no disparate civil‑rights impacts; details drone and body‑camera use

The Office of Oversight and Public Accountability presented the City of Grand Rapids’ fiscal year 2024 surveillance report at the Public Safety Committee meeting, summarizing drone and body‑worn camera use by the Grand Rapids Fire Department and Grand Rapids Police Department and reporting no evidence of disparate civil‑rights impacts.

The report, presented by Nick DeRuyck, manager with OPA, said administrative policy 1503 governs the city’s use of surveillance equipment and surveillance services and that the policy excludes cameras intended to record inside city buildings, equipment to protect city infrastructure, and surveillance equipment acquired before March 24, 2015, the date of the original policy. “Surveillance equipment is operated by or at the direction of the city deliberately or inadvertently capable of capturing or recording data related to the activities of individuals on public or private property,” DeRuyck said during the presentation.

The nut graf: the report covers two primary sources of…