§210.0102 Definitions
For purposes of this Division, the following definitions apply and appear in italicized letters:
(a) Annual Surveillance Report means a written report concerning specific surveillance technology that includes all of the following elements:
(1) A description of how the surveillance technology was used, including the type and quantity of data gathered or analyzed by the surveillance technology.
(2) Whether and how often data acquired through the use of the surveillance technology was shared with any non-City entities, the name of any recipient entity, the types of data disclosed, under what legal standards the information was disclosed, and the justification for the disclosure, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(3) A description of the physical objects to which the surveillance technology hardware was installed, if applicable, and without revealing the specific location of the hardware, and a breakdown of the data sources applied or related to the surveillance technology software.
(4) A list of the software updates, hardware upgrades, and system configuration changes that expanded or reduced the surveillance technology capabilities, as well as a description of the reason for the changes, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(5) A description of where the surveillance technology was deployed geographically, by each City Council District or police area, in the applicable year.
(6) A summary of any community complaints or concerns about the surveillance technology and an analysis of its Surveillance Use Policy, including whether it is adequate in protecting civil rights and civil liberties, and whether, and to what extent, the use of the surveillance technology disproportionately impacts certain groups or individuals.
(7) The results of any internal audits or internal investigations relating to surveillance technology, information about any violation of the Surveillance Use Policy, and any action taken in response. To the extent that the public release of this information is prohibited by law, City staff shall provide a confidential report to the City Council regarding this information to the extent allowed by law.
(8) Information about any data breaches or other unauthorized access to the data collected by the surveillance technology, including information about the scope of the breach and the actions taken in response, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(9) A general description of all methodologies used to detect incidents of data breaches or unauthorized access, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(10) Information, including crime statistics, that helps the community assess whether the surveillance technology has been effective at achieving its identified purposes.
(11) Statistics and information about California Public Records Act requests regarding the specific surveillance technology, including response rates, such as the number of California Public Records Act requests on the surveillance technology and the open and close date for each of these California Public Records Act requests.
(12) Total annual costs for the surveillance technology, including any specific personnel-related and other ongoing costs, and what source will fund the surveillance technology in the coming year.
(13) Any requested modifications to the Surveillance Use Policy and a detailed basis for the request.
(b) Board means the Privacy Advisory Board established by Chapter 2, Article 6, Division 00, section 26.42, of the San Diego Municipal Code.
(c) City means any department, division, office, unit, or program of the City of San Diego.
(d) City staff means personnel employed by the City to engage in activities on behalf of any City department, division, office, unit, or program. City personnel assigned to federal task force activities by the Chief of Police or designee are exempt from the requirements of this Division related to the acquisition, procurement, use, reporting, and contractual obligations, solely to the extent of their duties and work related to their assignment to the federal task force.
(e) Community meeting means a publicly held meeting that is accessible, noticed at least seventy-two hours in advance in at least two languages, for the purpose of educating communities, answering questions, and learning about potential impacts of surveillance technology on disadvantaged groups.
(f) Exigent circumstances means an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any individual, or imminent danger of significant property damage, that requires the use of surveillance technology, as determined by City staff acting in good faith upon known facts.
(g) Existing surveillance technology means technology that the City possessed, used, or had a contract in force and effect for its use before September 9, 2022.
(h) Facial recognition technology means an automated or semi-automated process that assists in identifying or verifying an individual based on an individual’s face.
(i) Federal task force means any group or collaboration with and between City employees and federal or state employees, or any group or body established or codified by federal or state statute, regulation, or rule.
(j) Individual means a natural person.
(k) New surveillance technology means technology that the City did not possess, use, or have a contract in force and effect for its use before September 9, 2022.
(l) Personal communication device means a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a wireless capable tablet, or a similar wireless two-way communications or portable internet-accessing device, whether procured or subsidized by the City or personally owned, that is used in the regular course of City business.
(m) Police area means each of the geographic districts assigned to a San Diego Police Department captain or commander.
(n) Surveillance or surveil means to observe or analyze the movements, behavior, data, or actions of individuals, including those whose identity can be revealed by data or combinations of data, such as license plate data, images, IP addresses, user identifications, unique digital identifiers, or data traces left by the individual.
(o) Surveillance technology means any software (for example, scripts, code, or Application Programming Interfaces), electronic device, system utilizing an electronic device, or similar device, which is used, designed, or primarily intended to observe, collect, retain, analyze, process, or share audio, electronic, visual, location, thermal, olfactory, biometric, or similar information specifically associated with, or capable of being associated with, any individual or group. It also includes the product (for example, audiovisual recording, data, analysis, or report) of the surveillance technology. Examples of surveillance technology include the following: cell site simulators (Stingrays); automatic license plate readers; gunshot detectors (ShotSpotter); drone-mounted data collection; facial recognition technology; thermal imaging systems; body-worn cameras; social media analytics software; gait analysis software; and video cameras that record audio or video and transmit or can be remotely accessed. It also includes software designed to monitor social media services or forecast criminal activity or criminality, and biometric identification hardware or software.
(1) Surveillance technology does not include the following devices, software, or hardware:
(A) Office hardware and software, including televisions, computers, credit card machines, badge readers, copy machines, printers, firewalls, City network infrastructure, City operational business applications, social media applications for City public communications, general internet search engines, and open-source databases, in widespread use by the general public and routinely used by City staff to gather data and information to assist in the performance of their duties.
(B) Parking ticket devices used solely for parking enforcement-related purposes, including any sensors embedded in parking sensors to detect the presence of a car in the space.
(C) Manually-operated, non-wearable, handheld digital cameras, audio recorders, and video recorders that are not designed to be used surreptitiously and whose functionality is limited to manually capturing and manually downloading video or audio recordings or both.
(D) Surveillance devices that cannot record or transmit audio or video or be remotely accessed, such as image stabilizing binoculars or night vision goggles.
(E) Manually-operated technological devices used primarily for internal municipal entity communications that are not designed to surreptitiously collect surveillance data, such as radios and email systems.
(F) City databases, software, or enterprise systems used by City staff to prepare, receive, or retain, or all three, legally required records and information; manage internal operational activities, including City payroll, accounting, and other fiscal operations; conduct City marketing, donor, media, and constituent relations; and engage in communications initiated by individuals directed to City staff to request City services, file complaints, or communicate information about City services.
(G) Medical equipment used to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease or injury, provided that any information obtained from this equipment is used solely for medical purposes.
(H) San Diego Police Department interview room cameras.
(I) City department case management and records management systems.
(J) Personal communication devices that have not been modified beyond stock manufacturer capabilities.
(K) Surveillance technology used by the City to monitor and conduct internal investigations and evaluations of the conduct of City employees, contractors, and volunteers, including GPS and automatic vehicle locators installed in City equipment and San Diego Police Department early warning systems.
(L) Systems, software, databases, and data sources used for revenue collection, cost recovery, or both, on behalf of the City by the City Treasurer or other City departments required to collect revenue or costs on behalf of the City, provided that no information from these sources may be shared by the City with any third party except as part of efforts to collect money that is owed to the City.
(M) Physical access control systems, employee and contractor identification management systems, and other security systems, including fixed security cameras, used to safeguard the City’s buildings, facilities, utilities, reservoirs, and other physical assets.
(N) Systems used for computer-aided dispatch (CAD), Live Scan, and in-custody bookings; Department of Motor Vehicles databases; California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS); other federal, state, and local summary criminal history databases; and 9-1-1 communications and related systems for dispatch and law enforcement operations and emergency services.
(O) Databases under the management and control of other governmental agencies and used by the City for emergency response, law enforcement, regulatory, and City personnel-related purposes, such as ARJIS, SDLaw, Parole LEADS, Offender Watch, California Pawn and Secondhand Dealers System (CAPSS), and Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
(P) Equipment designed to detect the presence of, or identify the source of, or dispose of hazardous material, such as chemical, biological, radiological, or explosive materials.
(Q) Software that the San Diego Police Department uses to analyze approved or exempted surveillance technology and its associated data.
(p) Surveillance Impact Report means a publicly released written report regarding specific surveillance technology that includes all of the following elements:
(1) Description: Information describing the surveillance technology and how it works, including product descriptions from manufacturers, if available.
(2) Purpose: Information on the proposed purposes and outcomes for the surveillance technology.
(3) Location: The physical or virtual locations where the surveillance technology may be deployed, using general descriptive terms and crime statistics for the locations.
(4) Impact: An assessment of the Surveillance Use Policy for the particular surveillance technology, including whether there is adequate protection of civil rights and civil liberties and whether the surveillance technology may be used or deployed, intentionally or inadvertently, in a manner that may disproportionately affect marginalized communities.
(5) Mitigation: Identification of specific, affirmative technical and procedural measures that will be implemented to safeguard the public from each identified impact.
(6) Data Types and Sources: A list of all types and sources of data to be collected, analyzed, or processed by the surveillance technology, including scores, reports, the logic or algorithm used, and any additional information derived from the surveillance technology, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(7) Data Security: Information about the controls that will be designed and implemented to safeguard the data collected or generated by the surveillance technology from unauthorized access or disclosure, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(8) Fiscal Cost: The forecasted, prior, and ongoing fiscal costs for the surveillance technology, if known and available, including known or projected initial purchase costs, personnel costs, and other ongoing costs, and any current or potential sources of funding.
(9) Third Party Dependence: Whether use or maintenance of the surveillance technology will require data gathered by the surveillance technology to be handled or stored by a third-party vendor at any time.
(10) Alternatives: A summary of the alternative means to achieve the proposed purposes considered, including alternative means that do not involve the use of surveillance technology, before deciding to use the proposed surveillance technology, including the costs and benefits associated with each alternative considered and an explanation of the reasons why each alternative is inadequate or less effective.
(11) Track Record: A summary of the experience, if any, of other entities, especially government entities, with the proposed surveillance technology, including, if available, quantitative information about the effectiveness of the proposed surveillance technology in achieving its stated purpose in other jurisdictions and any known adverse information about the surveillance technology, such as unanticipated costs, failures, or abuses of civil rights or civil liberties, existing publicly reported controversies, and any court rulings in favor or in opposition to the surveillance technology.
(12) Public Engagement and Comments: A description of any community engagement held and any future community engagement plans, number of attendees, a compilation of all comments received and City departmental responses given, and City departmental conclusions about potential neighborhood impacts and how the impacts that may result from the acquisition and use of the surveillance technology may differ as they pertain to different members of the community.
(q) Surveillance Use Policy means a publicly released and legally enforceable policy for the use of specific surveillance technology that includes all of the following elements:
(1) Purpose: The specific purposes that the surveillance technology is intended to advance.
(2) Use: The specific uses that are authorized and the rules and processes required prior to the use, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(3) Data Collection: The information that can be collected, captured, recorded, intercepted, or retained by the surveillance technology, data that may be inadvertently collected during the authorized uses of the surveillance technology and what measures will be taken to minimize and delete the data, and any data sources the surveillance technology will rely upon, as applicable, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(4) Data Access: The job classification of individuals who can access or use the collected information, and the rules and processes required prior to access or use of the information, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(5) Data Protection: The safeguards that protect information from unauthorized access, including system logging, encryption, and access control mechanisms, except that no confidential or sensitive information should be disclosed that would violate any applicable law or would undermine the legitimate security interests of the City.
(6) Data Retention: The time period, if any, for which information collected by the surveillance technology will be routinely retained, the reason the retention period is appropriate to further the purposes, the process by which the information is regularly deleted after that period lapses, and the specific conditions that must be met to retain information beyond that period.
(7) Public Access: A description of how collected information can be accessed or used by members of the public, including criminal defendants.
(8) Third Party Data Sharing: If and how information obtained from the surveillance technology can be accessed or used, including any required justification or legal standard necessary to do so and any obligations imposed on the recipient of the information.
(9) Training: The training required for any individual authorized to use the surveillance technology or to access information collected by the surveillance technology.
(10) Auditing and Oversight: The procedures used to ensure that the Surveillance Use Policy is followed, including identification of internal personnel assigned to ensure compliance with the policy, internal recordkeeping of the use of the surveillance technology and access to information collected by the surveillance technology, technical measures to monitor for misuse, identification of any independent person or entity with oversight authority, and the legally enforceable sanctions for violations of the policy.
(11) Maintenance: The procedures used to ensure that the security and integrity of the surveillance technology and collected information will be maintained.
(“Definitions” added 8-10-2022 by O-21514 N.S; effective 9-9-2022.)
(Amended 8-8-2023 by O-21711 N.S.; effective 9-7-2023.)
(Renumbered from former Section 210.0101 to Section 210.0102 and amended 2-14-2024 by O-21762 N.S.; effective 3-15-2024. Former Section 210.0102 “Board Notification and Review Requirements” retitled, amended, and renumbered to Section 210.0104.)
