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Council hears sheriff's office briefing on proposed park cameras, retention and privacy safeguards
Summary
Spokane County Real Time Crime Center staff briefed Medical Lake council on a five-location parks-camera proposal, saying footage will be retained 14 days, privacy masks will block private yards, access will be audited, and county IT will host recordings; council asked follow-up questions on access and oversight.
Brad Cushman, of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office Real Time Crime Center, briefed the council on a proposed MOU to place stationary pan-tilt-zoom cameras and mobile camera units at city parks and strategic locations.
"What we do there is really, we are an information center...we are giving out information to our deputies in real time," Cushman said. He said staff selected five locations after walking Medical Lake, and that initial pole placement is complete while the city is awaiting delivery of a few cameras.
Cushman said stationary cameras will record 24/7 with a retention policy of 14 days and that footage requested under public-records law will be exported from the county's IT data center. He described privacy masking for private residences adjacent to parks so that yard areas are obscured, but public areas will remain visible.
Council members raised oversight and misuse concerns. A council member asked whether there will be checks and balances over who can view camera feeds and when. Cushman said all law-enforcement database and camera access is audited and that the department conducts regular audits of user access; he said the audit logs are reviewed more often than in the past.
The proposal includes analytics to flag after-hours loitering and vandalism and the option to activate live views when deputies respond to calls. The county-run server and maintenance will be managed by the sheriff's office. Staff indicated a maintenance agreement figure of $5,400 per year and said any service fees would be presented to council before implementation.
Council asked staff to return with an MOU and the technical maps showing coverage and privacy masks for specific camera placements; staff said they anticipate bringing the item forward at the next meeting.
