Public Meeting Notice  Technology and Procurement Subcommittee Meeting

TECHNOLOGY AND PROCUREMENT SUBCOMMITTE

LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY WORN CAMERA TASK FORCE.

Date: November 17, 2021

Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00AM

Place: Microsoft Teams (Virtual Meeting – access link posted publicly on mass.gov)

Subcommittee Members Present:

Tim Mitchell, Executive Office of Technology and Support Services

Subcommittee Members Absent:

Deborah Batista, Executive Vice President, New England Police Benevolent Association

Sheriff McDermott, Massachusetts Sheriff’s Association

Staff: Daniel Nakamoto, EOPSS (Board Advisor)

Daniel opened the meeting by stating that he hoped to have a game plan for the work of the subcommittee at the conclusion of the meeting.  He given some thought to the subcommittee’s mandate and did some investigative work in preparation for the meeting.

1. Standards for body worn cameras and dashcams

The technology of body worn cameras and dashcams is rapidly changing and a technology standard today could be outdated in a short period of time.  The advent of 5G networks will likely spur technological improvements.  There was agreement that our standards work will focus on the functionality of body worn cameras.

2. Procurement

The Operational Services Division (OSD) is the procurement entity for the State and establish state contracts for many services and commodities.  There is currently a state contract for Body Worn Cameras (it is part of a law enforcement blanket that includes many items such as tasers, communication devices, etc.) which ends 12/31/21.  A new procurement is in process to replace the current contract.  Local law enforcement can do their own procurements for BWCs; Task Force recommendations would not impact municipal law enforcement agencies doing their own procurements. The Massachusetts State Police conducted a procurement for BWCs and tried to make it a state contract. OSD denied the MSP request.

OSD was not aware of our Task Force and its mandate. They indicated they would re-open the state contract to incorporate our standards when finalized.

Items Specified in the Task Force Authorizing Legislation

3. Standards for procurement of body-worn cameras and vehicle dashcams by law enforcement agencies

BWCs and dashcams are essentially audio/video recording devices, and software for redaction and facial recognition are based in servers/cloud.  There are numerous aspects of BWCs and DCs such as recording format, pre-event recording, low/night recording, event tagging, etc.

The Massachusetts State Police’s recent procurement provided a comprehensive array of requirements – 69 in all. This could be used as a starting point.  Or we could seek to hire a technical expert to assist us. Funding and timing were issues due to the Task Force timeline.  It was agreed that we would review the MSP procurement specifications and identify the functions desired.  This review will be completed by the next meeting.

4. Requirements for state procurement contracts for body-worn cameras (including dashcams?) and data storage

Are requirements different than standards?  After discussion, it was decided to use the standards developed as the requirements.

5. Best practice language for contracts with third-party vendors for data storage, which shall provide that recordings of such cameras are the property of the law enforcement agency, not owned by the vendor and cannot be used by the vendor for any purpose inconsistent with the policies and procedures of the law enforcement agency

OSD state contract language under Attachment – Cloud Terms Table:

• “Agency retains full right and title to data provided by the Agency and any data derived therefrom, including metadata (collectively, the “Agency Data”).”
• “Cloud Solution Provider shall not collect, access, or use user-specific Agency data except as strictly necessary to provide the Cloud Solution to the Agency.  No information regarding Agency’s use may be disclosed, provided, rented or sold to any third party for any reason unless required by law.”

The current OSD contract Attachment Cloud Terms Table meets the intent of best practices language.

6. Standards for the security of facilities in which recordings are kept.

OSD state contract language under Attachment – Cloud Terms Table:

“Cloud Solution Provider shall provide a secure environment for Agency Data, and any hardware and software, including servers, network and data components provided by solution provider as part of its performance, in order to protect, and prevent unauthorized access to and use or modification of, the cloud solution and Agency Data.”

“Cloud Solution Provider will encrypt personal and non-public Agency data in transit and at rest.”

According to the Chief Information Security Officer for the Executive Office Technical Support Services, premises or cloud storage, should comply with the Security standards issued by Criminal Justice Information Services, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Current OSD language is not sufficient.  It was decided that the standard for security should be compliance with the Security standards issued by Criminal Justice Information Services, Federal Bureau of Investigation

7. A process by which body camera footage may be included in a public record

This issue needs to be in informed by and in compliance with public records law and possibly the wiretapping law?  Subcommittee will seek the advice of Suleyken, TF Counsel.

Adjournment

Upon motion made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 9:25 AM.