Surveillance tech group violated transparency laws, experts say
Surveillance tech group violated transparency laws, experts say
Publish Date: 2026-03-25 00:05:00
Source Domain: centralcurrent.org
Former Mayor Ben Walsh created the Surveillance Technology Working Group to ensure Syracuse constituents’ privacy was protected as the city leaned into implementing powerful surveillance tools.
Experts say the city is now ensuring privacy for the group itself.
The working group has met in private since its creation, violating Open Meetings Laws that are meant to ensure transparency and public access to information, according to the New York State Committee on Open Government. COOG is a state agency that advises public bodies on the state’s transparency standards.
Christen Smith, a senior attorney at the Committee on Open Government, concluded that the group performs duties that are necessary steps in the city’s decision-making process, requiring it to follow New York State Open Meetings Law.
“If the STWG does in fact perform the tasks and functions set forth in the executive order described above, we believe the STWG would constitute a public body and be subject to the requirements of the (Open Meetings Law),” Smith wrote.
Smith issued her opinion in response to a request from Central Current. Opinions from the Committee on Open Government are not enforceable.
Smith’s opinion means the Surveillance Technology Working Group for five years has made important decisions in private, even though the group should have deliberated in meetings with public access.
Through this group, the city has implemented several camera systems that built upon the Syracuse Police Department’s existing fleet of hundreds of street corner cameras.
Together, those systems surveil nearly every public facet of thousands of residents’ daily lives: automatic license plate readers track Syracuse drivers’ movements; red light, bus-arm, and school-zone speed cameras surveil drivers’ adherence to traffic laws; and, if the Syracuse Police Department has its way, “eye in the sky” autonomous drones will record video as they make routine flights over…
