Cleveland Community Police Commission discusses surveillance

The Community Police Commission wants citizens to learn how the Cleveland Police Department uses surveillance technology and share any concerns they have about it.

The commission is hosting a community forum on Thursday, May 30, at New Sardis Primitive Baptist Church, where the Cleveland Division of Police will describe how it uses surveillance tools.

The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion where viewers will have time to ask questions.

Commissioner Piet van Lier said it was important for community members to understand how police use technology such as license plate readers, cameras and ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology. The conversation will likely address the constitutionality of some of the technology and whether it is effective and a good use of taxpayer dollars.

“Is there a way to use these types of technologies constitutionally?” said van Lier. “Is this unjustified mass surveillance? Or are they a necessary part of community safety?”

As chair of the Police Policy Committee, which oversees the Surveillance Technology Working Group, van Lier led event planning.

Ayesha Bell Hardaway, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University whose research focuses on criminal justice and policing, will moderate the panel discussion.

The panel includes a Cleveland State University professor with expertise in privacy or criminal law; Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU of Ohio; and Latonya Goldsby, president of Black Lives Matter – Cleveland.

Goldsby wants residents to question Cleveland City Council members about whether investing in technology like ShotSpotter is the best use of taxpayer money. The city used about $2.75 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to expand ShotSpotter.

Studies have shown that ShotSpotter “has no significant impact on firearm-related homicides or arrest outcomes.”

“We see a lot of fearmongering and things like that when it comes to crime and violence in our communities. But we never hear real solutions from our politicians on how we can improve conditions in those communities,” Goldsby said. “And when politicians don’t know how to solve socioeconomic problems, they call for increased police deployments and surveillance in those communities.”

The Community Police Commission made changes to the police department’s ShotSpotter General Police Order (GPO) earlier this year. The changes resulted from the Surveillance Technology Work Group’s concerns that the original GPO may have violated Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.