The city of Atlanta is expanding its ConnectAtlanta initiative, an AI-powered surveillance program that allows private citizens and businesses to register their surveillance cameras with the Atlanta Police Department. The program, which has around 17,000 registered cameras and 29,000 integrated cameras, uses Fusus Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) AI software to combine public and private camera feeds into a unified map-based surveillance platform.

Privacy Concerns

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia has raised concerns about the potential infringement on individuals’ Fourth Amendment rights to privacy. According to Shruti Lakshmanan, a Policy Advocate at the ACLU of Georgia, the technology enables the government to engage in near-constant, suspicion-less monitoring of people going about their daily lives.

The ACLU is working to bring its Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) campaign to Atlanta, which aims to provide transparency, accountability, and democratic oversight before governments acquire powerful surveillance tools.

Despite concerns, local officials insist that the expansion of the ConnectAtlanta initiative can be an essential asset to crime reduction efforts. The Buckhead Coalition, a private, non-profit corporation, has seen a 27 percent net reduction in crime in Buckhead over the past 5 years, which they attribute in part to the ConnectAtlanta initiative.

Original reporting: SaportaReport — read the source article.