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BPD Surveillance Plane Plans May Stay Grounded

Courtesy/MPIA

What’s the best way to combat the staggering number of murders in Baltimore? One approach supported by Police Commissioner Harrison is a test of aerial surveillance. What could it accomplish? What are its limitations? What privacy concerns does it raise? We speak with Baltimore Beat news editor Brandon Soderberg, who has reported on the technology. And also with David Rocah, Senior Staff Attorney at ACLU of Maryland. He explains the lawsuit filed against BPD using the technology … and questions why, during a city lockdown, there is a rush to put it in place.

Read more information about the ACLU lawsuit here. To read Soderberg's reporting in The Appeal, visit this link. To learn about the Persistent Surveillance Systems technology, visit this link.

To read the update about the ACLU ruling, visit this link.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'