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Thurston County commissioners direct staff to draft phased AI surveillance policy
Summary
The board voted to direct the county manager, IT and the prosecuting attorney to draft a phased ordinance requiring board approval and increased transparency for AI-enabled surveillance tools; the phase-one framework would prohibit certain high-risk capabilities while preserving operational discretion for law enforcement.
The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners voted Jan. 13 to direct staff to develop a phased ordinance that would require board approval before county use of AI-enabled surveillance tools and impose transparency and reporting requirements.
Commissioner Mejia, who introduced the proposal, told colleagues the proposal is “not a proposal to expand surveillance.” She said phase one is intended to “establish guardrails so that AI enabled tools cannot quietly or incrementally expand without this board's knowledge and approval,” and would explicitly limit technologies that “raise the greatest public concern, including real time…
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