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16-63.5   Annual Surveillance Report.
   (A)   (1)   This Section shall apply to the following City Departments and Agencies: the Boston Police Department, Boston Parks Department Park Rangers, Boston Public Schools, Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Housing Authority, Boston Municipal Protection Services and the Office of Emergency Management.
      (2)   For the purpose of this Section, the word CITY shall mean the City Departments and Agencies listed above.
   (B)   Within 18 months of the effective date, and annually thereafter, all applicable City Departments shall submit to the Mayor an Annual Surveillance Report pertaining to each City Department for which approval for the use of surveillance technology or surveillance data has been obtained under Subsection 16-63.3(C) and (D). Upon receipt of such reports, the Mayor shall promptly submit them to the Boston City Council. Any Annual Surveillance Report submitted under this Section shall be made publicly available on the city’s website upon submission to the Council.
   (C)   The Annual Surveillance Report submitted pursuant to this Section shall include all of the following:
      (1)   A description of how surveillance technology has been used, including whether it captured images, sound or other information regarding members of the public who are not suspected of engaging in unlawful conduct;
      (2)   Whether and how often data acquired through the use of the surveillance technology was shared with local, commonwealth and federal; the name of any recipient entity; the type(s) of data disclosed; any legal standard(s) under which the information was disclosed; and the justification for the disclosure;
      (3)   A summary of community complaints or concerns about the surveillance technology, if any;
      (4)   The results of any internal audits, any information about violations of the Surveillance Use Policy and any actions taken in response other than to the extent that such inclusion would violate the privacy rights of an employee of the city;
      (5)   A detailed accounting of whether the surveillance technology has been effective at achieving its identified purpose;
      (6)   The number of public records requests received by the city seeking documents concerning surveillance technologies approved during the previous year;
      (7)   An estimate of the total annual costs for the surveillance technology, including personnel and other ongoing costs, and what source(s) of funding will fund the technology in the coming year, if known;
      (8)   Whether the civil rights and liberties of any communities or groups, including communities of color or other marginalized communities in the city are disproportionately impacted by the deployment of the surveillance technology; and
      (9)   A disclosure of any new agreements made in the past 12 months with non-city entities that may include acquiring, sharing or otherwise using surveillance technology or the surveillance data it provides.
   (D)   Based upon information provided in the Annual Surveillance Report, the Boston City Council shall determine whether the benefits to the applicable, impacted City Department(s) and the community of the surveillance technology outweigh the financial and operational costs and whether reasonable safeguards exist to address reasonable concerns regarding privacy, civil liberties and civil rights impacted by the deployment of the surveillance technology. If the benefits or reasonably anticipated benefits do not outweigh the financial and/or operational costs or civil liberties or civil rights are not reasonably safeguarded, the Boston City Council may recommend modifications to the Surveillance Use Policy that are designed to address the Boston City Council’s concerns to the Mayor for their consideration; withdraw authorization for continued use of surveillance technology by a majority vote of the Boston City Council; and/or request a report back from the Mayor regarding steps taken to address the Boston City Council’s concerns. Should the Council withdraw authorization for a previously approved surveillance technology, the Mayor may request that the Surveillance Oversight Advisory Board meet to discuss the Boston City Council’s concerns and provide recommendations to the Mayor. The Mayor at their discretion may resubmit a modified request to the Boston City Council for approval.
   (E)   Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the Boston City Council from enacting a separate ordinance to ban or otherwise regulate any surveillance technology, whether previously approved or not.
   (F)   No later than May 31 of each year, the Boston City Council shall hold a meeting to discuss the applicable City Departments’ Annual Surveillance Reports, and shall publicly release a report that includes a summary of all requests for approval of surveillance technology received by the Boston City Council during the prior year, including whether the Boston City Council approved or denied the city’s request for acquisition or use of the surveillance technology.
(CBC 1985 16-63.5; Ord. 2021 c. 14)
16-63.6   Enforcement.
   (A)   Enforcement officials. This Section shall be enforced by the Mayor’s Office or the Mayor’s designee.
   (B)   Suppression. No data collected or derived from any use of surveillance technology in violation of this Section and no evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence in any proceeding in or before any Department, Officer, Agency, regulatory body, legislative committee or other authority subject to the jurisdiction of the city.
   (C)   Cause of action. Any violation of this Section constitutes an injury and any person may institute proceedings for injunctive relief, declaratory relief or writ of mandate in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce this Section. An action instituted under this division (C) shall be brought against the city and, if necessary to effectuate compliance with this Section, any other Governmental Agency with possession, custody or control of data subject to this Section.
   (D)   Addressing violations. The city will address alleged violations of this Section in accordance with its usual practices, applicable law and contractual obligations.
   (E)   Whistleblower protections. Subject to the limitations and requirements set forth in M.G.L. Chapter 149, Section 185 (the “Commonwealth Whistleblower Statute” or “Section 185”) as it may be amended from time to time, any city employee as defined in Section 185 who reports an alleged violation of this Section, shall be afforded protections against retaliation if applicable pursuant to Section 185, as set forth in and subject to the limitations and requirements of Section 185.
   (F)   Nothing in this Section shall be construed to limit or affect any individual’s rights under commonwealth or federal laws.
(CBC 1985 16-63.6; Ord. 2021 c. 14)
16-63.7   Severability.
   The provisions in this Section are severable. If any part or provision of this Section, or the application of this Section to any person or circumstance, is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this Section shall not be affected by such holding and shall continue to have full force and effect.
(CBC 1985 16-63.7; Ord. 2021 c. 14)
16-63.8   Effective Date and Implementation.
   The effective date and implementation of the ordinance shall be as follows.
   (A)   The ordinance shall take effect and be implemented in the manner and ways described in this Section.
   (B)   The ordinance shall take effect notwithstanding any other provision of law and shall supersede any prior law and regulation enacted by the city and/or any agreement entered into by the city or any of its Agencies that are interpreted to be in conflict with its provisions.
   (C)   Subsections 16-63.1, 16-63.2, 16-63.4, 16-63.6 and 16-63.7 shall take effect one month after its adoption in accordance with the following provisions.
      (1)   Every School Safety Specialist shall create a record of historic student reports.
      (2)   Within four months of the effective date:
         (a)   The historic student reports that do not conform with Subsection 16-63.4(A)(1) shall be destroyed, in both print and electronic form; provided that such destruction is permitted under the commonwealth law relating to retention of records;
         (b)   The historic student reports that conform with Subsection 16-63.4(A)(1) can be retained; provided there is a previous certification by the BPS Legal Advisor that their creation meets such requirements; and
         (c)   All reports created more than five years ago shall be destroyed.
      (3)   Within six months of the Effective Date, the Head of the School Safety Specialists and the Legal Advisor must submit a report to the Community Information-Sharing Oversight Board. Such report must contain:
         (a)   The number of historic student reports, including the format or file type of the report, description of each incident, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, age and grade level of each student who is named in the report;
         (b)   The number of historic student reports retained in accordance with division (C)(2)(a) above; and
         (c)   The number of historic student reports destroyed in accordance with divisions (C)(2)(b) and (C)(2)(c) above.
      (4)   No more than one month after receiving such report, the Community Information-Sharing Oversight Board shall call a public hearing to discuss the Historic Student Reports. The Head of the School Safety Specialists as well as individual School Safety Specialists shall be present at such public hearing.
   (D)   Subsections 16-63.3 and 16-63.5 shall take effect nine months after their adoption.
(CBC 1985 16-63.8; Ord. 2021 c. 14)
16-63.9   Establishment of a Surveillance, Data and Privacy Working Group.
   (A)   The Working Group shall be tasked with identifying a set of priorities and implementable objectives to increase the transparency, accountability and engagement around the public deployment of technology and use of data within city Departments not covered by this Section.
   (B)   The Working Group will move forward sustainable policies to increase engagement on the topic of privacy and supply recommendations on professional development opportunities and training for city staff.
   (C)   The Working Group must produce recommendations for implementation within one year from the date of adoption to the Mayor and Boston City Council.
   (D)   The Working Group shall comprise a representative from the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a representative from the Department of Innovation and Technology, a representative from the Boston City Council to be chosen by the Boston City Council President, a representative from the commonwealth’s American Civil Liberties Union, a representative from the community-at-large to be chosen by SIM and a representative appointed by the Mayor.
   (E)   The Working Group will dissolve upon the publication of recommendations to the Mayor and Boston City Council.
   (F)   The Working Group seats shall be filled within one month of this Section’s passage and the Group shall convene for its first meeting one month thereafter.
(CBC 1985 16-63.9; Ord. 2021 c. 14)
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