Atlanta mayor proposes city surveillance oversight rules

What the proposal would require

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has introduced legislation to create a citywide oversight system for surveillance technology used by city departments and agencies. Reviews would consider a tool’s capabilities, purpose, scale, data practices and potential effects rather than focusing mainly on its cost.

Agencies seeking to deploy higher-risk technology would have to prepare an impact report and a use policy. Those documents would describe the technology, explain why it is needed, identify who could access it and set rules for handling its data.

The highest-impact tools would require public review before initial deployment or a significant expansion. Higher-risk systems would undergo independent technical audits, and credible allegations of serious misuse would be investigated.

Oversight and data safeguards

A seven-member Surveillance Technology Review Panel would examine higher-risk systems and recommend safeguards, limits and reporting requirements. Vendors could not independently sell, license, monetize or use city surveillance data for unrelated purposes.

The ordinance would apply to technology obtained through purchases, trials, donations, grants and no-cost agreements. Temporary use would remain possible during genuine emergencies and major special events, but continued or routine use would require the standard review.

Atlanta would also inventory and classify surveillance tools already in use. Existing higher-risk systems would become subject to the ordinance’s audit, reporting, data-governance and use-policy requirements.

What happens next

The Dickens administration plans to request an Atlanta City Council work session and public hearing before committee consideration. The mayor’s office wants those meetings held within 60 days.

The Atlanta Police Department has separately revised its license plate recognition policy to require monthly audits, updated training and tighter limits on access by outside agencies. The policy states that misuse may bring administrative or criminal consequences.