Nashville, Tenn., police want private businesses to share surveillance video feeds

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department in Tennessee plans to ask the city council to consider new legislation that would allow police to access video feeds that have been voluntarily provided by businesses. The department would integrate the video feeds into its video surveillance platform to assist in criminal investigations.

According to a news release, the department plans to make the request, which involves a new contract between the department and the law enforcement software company Fusus, during the Nashville Metropolitan Council’s next meeting on Oct. 15.

While the department has used Fusus’ cloud service since 2022, the police department’s access to privately owned cameras has been limited to the city’s Community Safety Camera Network, a voluntary registry that allows residents either to let Nashville Police access their cameras in real time, or simply view their cameras’ addresses to request access later.

If the department’s request is approved, businesses would be allowed to provide live access to police by attaching devices from Fusus to their cameras. The Fusus system allows law enforcement agencies to consolidate data surveillance cameras, traffic cameras, drones, gunshot detection sensors and other sources into a “virtual crime center,” according to the city.

Police last year installed license plate readers across the city, and according to a Metro Nashville Community Review Board report, those devices have been integrated into Nashville Police’s Fusus platform.

After signing a contract with Fusus in 2022, Nashville Police received 58 Fusus devices, including 8 for public use and 50 to disperse to businesses and residents. As of January, the police network included nearly 1,000 registered cameras and 268 integrated cameras, according to a Metro Nashville Community Review Board report.

Nashville Police says the new integration option will improve the accuracy of investigations, reduce the time investigators spend attempting to obtain video and reduce the likelihood of misidentification.

But skeptics worry about the potential invasions of privacy and the normalization of passive surveillance. Others worry of the potential use of facial recognition technology, which is known to produce false matches. Nashville Police says it does not use facial recognition technology in its Fusus system.

“Everyone’s recording everybody at any point in time. It’s a fact of life,” Nashville Police Deputy Chief Greg Blair said, WKRN reported Tuesday. “We’re only looking to build criminal cases.”