Columbia City Council votes against use of Fusus surveillance system at meeting
View a live stream of the meeting above.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
After a contentious meeting that lasted more than five hours, the Columbia City Council voted against using the Fusus surveillance software on Monday 4-3.
Fusus is a software that allows police to access public and business video footage.
The "no" votes consisted of Ward 1 Councilwoman Pat Fowler, Ward 2 Councilwoman Andrea Waner, Ward 3 Councilman Roy Lovelady, and Ward 4 Councilman Nick Foster.
The "yes" votes included Ward 5 Councilman Matt Pitzer, Ward 6 Councilwoman Betsy Peters, and Mayor Barbara Buffaloe.
Community members also had the chance to express their views on the system.
Columbia resident Anthony Wilroth told ABC17 he's grateful the system wasn't passed.
"Realize that it was never intended to be a community discussion. It was never intended to get out to the larger community," Wilroth said. "At least to me it felt like they were looking for people like me... white business owners downtown to show up and support the police and I'm incredibly glad that's not what happened tonight."
While community member Linda Olsen said public safety should be the community's top priority.
"It would take one child to be killed in our schools and the public would demand this council change their minds," Olsen said. "We shouldn't wait until that happens to do something. To make us feel safe. We can all talk about it. We can all ask what they want, but public safety is the number one issue for people in the community no matter what."
The vote on Monday does not mean that the discussion of using the software is over. Multiple council members talked about wanting more information from other cities that use the software and voted 7-0 in regards to looking at using a community group that could oversee police use of the software, should it be approved. The suggestion was brought up by one of the several dozen people who spoke on the issue Monday night.
A timetable was not given at the meeting for the implementation of policy related to Fusus.
CPD previously claimed the software would allow them to be able to respond to crimes appropriately. Chief of Police Geoff Jones previously said the program would be "an opt-in thing for anybody, it's complete voluntary."
CPD spokesperson Christian Tabak said the department has access to some local cameras already.
CPD officers and Fusus representatives met with local business owners and community members three times in November to answer questions about the software. Columbia's Downtown Leadership Council voted in favor of Columbia police using the software in October.
"Having the information that comes from camera footage sooner gives us the ability to look for the car or the person dressed in a certain way more quickly, and it gives us the ability to direct our resources towards the investigation and less towards trying to gather video from business to business," Jones said last month following a Downtown shooting that occurred during Mizzou's Homecoming weekend.
But not everyone is in support of Fusus. Some residents passed out a booklet labeled "The Case Against Fusus" at the last city council meeting. The booklet argues other police departments already using the system have not had it long enough to understand the impact on the community, and there is no evidence Fusus improves cities' criminal case clearance rate.
Detractors of the system include the Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association, who sent a letter of concern to the City Council last month.
Dan Viets, president of the Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association, said in the letter that the organization has reservations about the proposal.
"While business owners may indeed be required to give their consent before their cameras will be connected to the Fusus system, the businesses’ employees and customers certainly are not required to give permission," Viets said. "It is they whose activities will be placed under surveillance."
