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City council considers new regulations on surveillance cams, facial recognition

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BALTIMORE — Legislation being introduced in Baltimore City would put limits on city watch cameras and facial recognition software.

The first of the two bills creates an oversight commission. That commission would supervise the acquisition of cameras.

Councilor Kristerfer Burnett is behind the legislation. He says the laws would create transparency and accountability.

“If you’re being surveilled and your communities are being surveilled there should be more transparency about how that information is being used, who has access to it, what their intentions are," said Burnett.

The other bill deals with facial recognition technology being used by the Baltimore City Police Department.

RELATED: Legislation introduced to regulate facial recognition technology in Baltimore

“There’s just a real lack of regulatory guardrails on such an invasive type of technology," said Burnett.

Burnett says the bill stops facial recognition use at public protests and rallies and regulates the sale of data and data storage.

There is a concern this technology is used more often in parts of the city where more people of color live.

“There is an over deployment, in my opinion in Black and Brown communities across the country," said Councilor Burnett.

The city council gained legislative control of the Baltimore police department just last year.

There is a question of how far the council can go when creating rules for the department.

“The Maryland Attorney General’s office released a statement a few months ago, indicating that we did have, they believe that we have local control and the ability to legislate like any other body so this will be a test to see if that’s true or not," said Burnett.

The two bills still face a lengthy process before the council can make them law and test their ability to regulate the department.