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Somerville finance committee pauses UASI surveillance and AI purchases after councillors raise oversight concerns
Summary
The finance committee deferred two federal‑region UASI purchases — a GrayKey phone‑extraction license and a partial BlueVoice AI tool purchase — and voted not to recommend a separate $48,000 UASI camera grant for the fire department after members flagged access, training and data‑sharing concerns.
Somerville’s Finance Committee on Feb. 24 declined to recommend approval of one federal homeland‑security grant and kept other security‑technology awards in committee after extended questioning about data access, warrants and AI tools.
The committee discussed a $43,000 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) subaward the police sought to buy GrayKey phone‑extraction licenses and to partially fund BlueVoice, described by staff as a controlled AI reference app for officers. Director of Finance and Administration for the Police Department Emily Wisdom said the GrayKey purchase, roughly $37,000 of the award, replaces regional licensing the department has relied on. She said use would be limited to cases where investigators obtain a search warrant or owner consent and…
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