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ACLU Calls For Public Hearings on Tampa's "Snooper Bowl" Video Surveillance
February 1, 2001
MIAMI -- In a letter sent to Tampa city officials today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida questioned the police department's use of intrusive surveillance technology at last Sunday's Super Bowl and called for public hearings on the use of security systems that may jeopardize the public's privacy rights.
"While everyone has a reduced expectation of privacy while in public, including sitting in the stands with one's family at a Sunday afternoon football game, we do not believe that the public understands or accepts that they will be subjected to a computerized police lineup," the ACLU said in a letter signed by Florida Executive Director Howard L. Simon and Michael E. Pheneger of the ACLU's Greater Tampa Chapter.
The public records request, addressed to Mayor Dick A. Greco and City Council Chairman Charlie Miranda, urged the city to turn over documents detailing how the video images captured by Tampa police at Sunday's Super Bowl will be used, stored and disposed of, and exactly which police databases were crossmatched with the digitized faces of thousands of unsuspecting sports fans and residents across town.
In the letter, the ACLU also asks the Tampa City Council to schedule public meetings to discuss the complicated surveillance practice, and to hear from citizens who may be concerned about possible Fourth Amendment violations.
The letter encouraged government officials to "exercise some control over the rapidly developing use of sophisticated faceidentification systems before we become a society under constant surveillance."
While similar surveillance systems are used at convenience stores, shopping malls and schools across the country, citizens are generally informed that the area is under surveillance and of the camera's whereabouts, unlike the thousands of sports fans who entered Raymond James Stadium for the big game.
As they entered at turnstiles, fans had no clue their faces were being silently digitized and matched up against the mug shots of criminals and terrorists, or that they could be questioned or detained by officers.
To read the full text of the letter, copied to Tampa Police Chief Bennie R. Holder and Henry Saavedra, Executive Director of the Tampa Sports Authority, click here.
