Surveillance technology
On June 21, 2016, the Board of Supervisors (“Board”) unanimously approved final adoption of the Surveillance-Technology and Community-Safety Ordinance, which became effective July 21, 2016. This regulation creates the following requirements:
- County departments with existing surveillance technology as of July 21, 2016 needed to draft a Surveillance Use Policy (“Policy”) for each technology. Each Policy is required to specify the purpose, authorized and prohibited uses, information/data that can be collected, data access, data protection, data retention, public access, third-party data sharing, training, and oversight mechanisms. Ultimately the Board of Supervisors must approve the policy before the department is allowed to continue using the technology.
- County departments must develop a new Policy before acquiring new surveillance technology under the same rules.
- Oversight: for all Board-approved policies, departments must develop a new Annual Surveillance Report (ASR) covering each fiscal year to show how the technology was used, and what controls exist to best ensure compliant use.
Featured surveillance technology policies
Unmanned Aerial Systems ("UAS," or Done)
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), commonly referred to as “drones”, offer several benefits to the County.
Body-Worn Cameras (BWC)
Body Worn Cameras (BWC) allow Sheriff deputies to enable both audio and video recording.
Facilities Surveillance Cameras
The County of Santa Clara has several Board-approved policies for video security cameras.
Data Sharing Systems
Organizations large and small rely on modern data management systems for fundamental operations.