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Citing “what appear to be erosions in the rule of law at the federal level,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell signaled on Friday that Metro is no longer actively pursuing a program pitched as a way to give police easier access to private surveillance footage. The seeming retreat on security technology company Fusus brings the administration closer to the position held by activists and some Metro councilmembers, who have warned that establishing such a system would hand the Trump administration a weapon to use in targeting immigrants and other marginalized communities.
Mayor, a longtime police skeptic, now favors video surveillance tool as it heads toward a council compromise
O’Connell and the Metro Nashville Police Department made an aggressive push at the end of last year to obtain Metro Council approval for a contract with Fusus for a system that would have allowed police to quickly access footage from security cameras owned by private businesses that agreed to participate. The argument was that it would only streamline a process police already go through when investigating alleged crimes. However, a number of community organizations and activists rejected the idea that the MNPD could be trusted with the program, let alone state and federal law enforcement. President Donald Trump had just won the 2024 presidential election after promising, among other things, to utilize police and even the military to carry out mass deportations.
A proposed contract with Fusus failed to get council approval by one vote in December, but the body passed legislation in March designed to establish “guardrails” for a future agreement with Fusus or any comparable product. While some councilmembers supported the protections as a way to mitigate the danger of a policy they hoped wouldn’t become reality, others framed it as naive at best in the face of the Trump administration's increasingly authoritarian actions.
On Friday, the mayor sounded persuaded by that view. Asked when his administration would be bringing a new Fusus proposal to the council, he said his administration doesn’t “have a schedule for it.” The administration, he said, is still having “conversations with councilmembers who are rightly concerned about what appear to be erosions in the rule of law at the federal level.”
Divisive measures get final OK from council
He pointed to the Trump administration’s apparent willingness to defy court orders as the primary reason for his increased hesitance about the Fusus program.
O’Connell was also asked about license plate readers, another surveillance policy that once had momentum but now looks stalled. The mayor referenced the recent failure of a Metro Council resolution asking for movement on LPRs.
“It’s going to be very hard to propose something they would support right now," he said.
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