4-225 - Public Safety Camera Platforms

The purpose of this policy is to provide direction for the use of Milestone and the Fusus Real Time Crime Center technology platform.

Milestone

Milestone is the Departments’ primary application for viewing and retrieving video from the public safety cameras owned and operated by MPD.

Fusus Real Time Crime Center

The Fusus Real Time Crime Center technology platform consists of fususONE, fususOPS, fususALERT, fususREGISTRY, fususTIPS, fususVAULT, and the fususCORE hardware appliance.

Use of Video

1. All video saved from Milestone shall only be used for evidentiary, court, internal or administrative investigation, or training (with the approval of the training unit commander) purposes. Video can also be saved for other agencies through the MPD’s Strategic Information Center (SIC).
2. The Minneapolis Police Department is committed to the protection of individual rights as governed by the United States Constitution, and Federal, State and local law. Collection of public and private video streams are strictly intended for legitimate law enforcement purpose and never for the arbitrary collection of video surveillance.
3. In accordance with Minneapolis Ordinance 41.100, facial recognition technology shall not be used with this platform or video from this platform unless an exception was approved in accordance with the Ordinance.

Viewing, Release and Collection of Video and Other Data

1. Video and other data shall only be released in accordance with the MN Government Data Practices Act and Minneapolis and MPD policy.
2. No person shall be permitted to view video, except in accordance with the MN Data Practices Act and any other applicable laws.
3. Video shall only be viewed or collected for a legitimate law enforcement purpose.

1. Video shall not be viewed or collected for the purpose of harassing or intimidating members of the public, employees, visitors, or arrestees.
2. Video shall not be viewed or collected for personal use.

Public Video Collection

1. Public video streams shall be collected in those public areas which are deemed of value for the prevention and detection of criminal activity within the city.
2. Decisions concerning which areas are selected for video surveillance shall be made by command staff members holding the rank of Lieutenant or above and shall be continually evaluated for need and effectiveness.
3. A list of those public areas in which video streams are collected shall be made available to the public.

Data Retention

All data (including video) received by the MPD shall be retained and disposed of in accordance with the MN Government Data Practices Act and the City of Minneapolis Records Retention Schedules.

Milestone and fususONE Camera Control

1. The Incident Commander of an event will designate personnel to monitor cameras to give situational awareness to make informed, timely decisions.

1. Remarks should be added to CAD to identify the camera operator by call sign.
2. If the event is preplanned this should be noted in an EAP.

2. If an event or situation arises in a precinct, that precinct should be responsible for tracking and camera management for that event until it concludes or until it leaves the precinct.

1. When an event leaves the precinct, the event responsibility shall be transferred to an Incident Commander in the new precinct.  The transfer shall be announced on the radio.
2. The precinct where the event originated shall be responsible for generating the required records and reports.

3. In situations where the event causes a response greater than the precinct resources alone or situations affect multiple precincts, control may be temporarily restricted and taken over by MPD Mobile Command personnel. If Mobile Command is not controlling a camera or does not have it restricted, the precinct may resume control of cameras.
4. Situations or events may dictate that personnel from the MPD’s Strategic Information Center (SIC) unit need camera control for intelligence gathering or viewing for operational planning. In that case MPD Strategic Information Center (SIC) personnel may temporarily take control of a camera from a precinct to gather intel and will then release it back to the precinct when finished.
5. The Strategic Information Center (SIC) unit and the Multi Agency Command Center (MACC) or Emergency Operation Center (EOC) shall communicate together to avoid conflicts and to best fit operational needs, as they may be working on the same intel incident. Potential conflicts could include operational, intelligence gathering, and evidence gathering needs. If a conflict arises regarding who has the operational need, the MACC/EOC Operational Section Chief and the Event Incident Commander shall determine who has operator priority.

System Access

1. A list of all users who have access to the platform shall be maintained by the system administrator.
2. Employees shall have their own username or a group username and password to login to the platform, and they shall only use that login information for access.

• Incident Commander:

  The Incident Commander (IC) is the first officer or supervisor to arrive on the scene of a call for service where multiple units, scenes, or assisting agencies are dispatched. The Incident Commander has overall command of the incident, until properly relieved by a supervisor of higher rank if necessary, and will be based at the incident command post. The priorities of the Incident Commander include:

  1. Assess incident priorities.
  2. Determine strategic goals and tactical objectives, not related to the operations of SWAT or ESU personnel.
  3. Identify a staging area, if needed.
  4. Develop and implement incident action plan.
  5. Develop appropriate incident management structure.
  6. Assess resource needs.
  7. Coordinate overall on-scene emergency activities.
  8. Authorize information to be released to the media.
• Investigation: A structured process of gathering, examining, and evaluating facts and evidence to determine what occurred, assess compliance with laws and policies, and support appropriate actions or decisions.
• Source Individual: Source Individual (SI) is an individual, living or dead, whose blood, tissue, or potentially infectious body fluids may be a source of bloodborne pathogen exposure to another person. Examples include, but are not limited to, a victim of an accident, injury or illness, or a deceased person.