Three years after deactivation, smart streetlights are back in San Diego

More than three years after they were deactivated over privacy concerns, smart streetlights are set to return in the City of San Diego.

Mayor Todd Gloria signed a measure into law to allow the city to move forward with activating 500 smart streetlight cameras and deploy Automated Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology. This follows approval from the City Council earlier this month.

In August the council approved the technologies in principle but vendor contracts still needed sign-off. The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) will now enter into a five-year agreement with Ubicquia for 500 smart streetlight cameras, paired with Flock Safety’s ALPR technology.

The systems are set to be operational by January.

The city said the technology “will be used to help San Diego Police Department solve violent crimes and bring perpetrators to justice”.

It claims the combination of the two technologies provides SDPD with both video and ALPR data-collection capabilities at a lower cost than if the two were bought and maintained separately.

The initial cost is around US$3.5 million to include US$2 million for hardware, software and connectivity and a one-time $1.5 million installation and maintenance cost. The programme will then cost US$2 million annually. The new combined technology will replace existing sensors, which can’t be reactivated after maintenance was discontinued.

Mayor Todd Gloria said: “San Diego is one of America’s safest big cities and I’ll do what it takes to maintain that. Our city’s smart streetlights and licence plate reader programme will help hold criminals accountable and keep residents safe.”

Controversy

The smart streetlights have been a source of ongoing debate and controversy.

From 2017, San Diego began installing 3,200 smart streetlights, with stated goals around cost and energy savings and using data to improve parking and traffic management.

The US$30 million project drew concerns over transparency and police access to camera data and in September 2020, then-Mayor Kevin Faulconer ordered the streetlight sensors and cameras to be deactivated until an ordinance was in place governing their use.

The rules were finally passed last year. They require all new and existing surveillance technology to undergo community engagement, be reviewed by a privacy advisory board and approved by the City Council.

The police department argued for the smart streetlight technology as a “force multiplier” in crime investigations. Opponents raised privacy concerns and fears of disproportionate impacts on communities of colour. In June, the city’s new privacy advisory board recommended rejecting the police department’s proposal to reinstate smart streetlights.

In July, San Diego City Council agreed to extend the deadline to review over 300 pieces of existing surveillance technology that are in use by three years. Further updates to the privacy ordinance have been proposed by the Mayor’s Office and TRUST SD, a community coalition that helped craft the law.