STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 487 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development 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. LBD05465-01-9S. 487 2 1 § 3. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by 2 adding a new section 14-177 to read as follows: 3 § 14-177 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 effective date of this section shall, within thirty 11 days after installation of such camera, register the location of the 12 camera and the contact information for the owner of the camera and 13 include a brief description of the view the camera captures with the 14 registry and database created and maintained by the department. The 15 owner of the camera shall register such information with the department 16 through the department's online registry. 17 c. The owner of a security camera which has been installed prior to 18 the effective date of this section shall have ninety days after the 19 effective date of this section to register the location of the camera 20 and the contact information for the owner of the camera with the depart- 21 ment's registry and include a brief description of the view the camera 22 captures as set 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.