Council authorizes York SafeNet access to city infrastructure after amendment for civil-liberty safeguards fails

York City Council voted on Nov. 5, 2025, to authorize the York SafeNet public security camera system to use city infrastructure, advancing the nonprofit-led effort to deploy cameras on municipal poles and rights of way. Council rejected a proposed amendment that would have written operational and civil-liberty safeguards into the resolution.

The amendment, offered by Councilwoman Bough, would have limited initial use of city-owned poles to 55, affirmed that the City of York retain ownership of municipal infrastructure, authorized access through a formal agreement of up to five years, prohibited facial recognition and the collection of unique biometric data, capped footage retention at 30 days, required police to present a legal rationale for each footage request and mandated a publicly available log of footage access. Bough said the…