STATE OF NEW YORK
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945
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 9, 2013
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Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, ADAMS, DILAN, ESPAILLAT, HASSELL-THOMPSON,
STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to enactment of the "safe streets security camera registry
act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "safe streets security camera registry act".
3 § 2. Legislative intent. Currently, the police department of the city
4 of New York collects information on the location of privately-owned
5 security cameras manually, by means of periodic surveys conducted by
6 patrol officers. Such surveys do not capture the locations of newly-in-
7 stalled privately-owned security cameras in a timely and complete manner
8 due to their periodic nature and reliance on personal observations by
9 officers. It is the intent of the legislature that the police department
10 create an online security camera registry and database for all private-
11 ly-owned and operated security cameras within the city of New York with
12 fields of observation that look upon and capture video of public spaces,
13 such as sidewalks, as well as lobbies, courtyards and vestibules of
14 apartment buildings. Creating the security camera registry will
15 strengthen the department's ability to pursue perpetrators of crimes by
16 enhancing its ability to collect video evidence in a timely manner,
17 thereby shortening the time needed to bring criminal investigations to a
18 successful conclusion. The registry will only alert the department to
19 the existence of privately-owned security cameras that observe persons
20 in public places. Nothing in this legislation will impinge upon the
21 civil liberties of the people of the city of New York.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01324-01-3
S. 945 2
1 § 3. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by
2 adding a new section 14-154 to read as follows:
3 § 14-154 Security camera registry. a. The department shall create and
4 maintain an online registry and database of all privately-owned and
5 operated security cameras within the city of New York with fields of
6 observation that look upon and capture video of public spaces, such as
7 sidewalks, as well as lobbies, courtyards and vestibules of apartment
8 buildings.
9 b. Any individual, company or entity which installs a new security
10 camera after the enactment of this section shall, within thirty days
11 after installation of such camera, register the location of the camera
12 and the contact information for the owner of the camera and include a
13 brief description of the view the camera captures with the registry and
14 database created and maintained by the department. The owner of the
15 camera shall register such information with the department through the
16 department's online registry.
17 c. The owner of a security camera which has been installed prior to
18 the enactment of this section shall have ninety days after the enactment
19 of this section to register the location of the camera and the contact
20 information for the owner of the camera with the department's registry
21 and include a brief description of the view the camera captures as set
22 forth in subdivision b of this section.
23 d. In the event that a crime occurs within the vicinity of a security
24 camera registered with the department's database, the department shall
25 obtain the consent of the camera owner to view any footage recorded or
26 otherwise obtain a subpoena for production of such video.
27 e. The security camera registry and database shall be used solely for
28 law enforcement purposes. Any data, records, photos, videos or informa-
29 tion collected for such camera registry shall not be subject to the
30 freedom of information law pursuant to subdivision two of section eight-
31 y-nine of the public officers law.
32 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
