Local municipalities are using surveillance cameras in a way that invades the privacy of their residents, including using cameras that allow close-up shots into private areas and ones that can read license plates without legal authority, a comptroller report released Tuesday found.
In each municipality that was tested, between 25% and 45% of surveillance cameras enabled close up shots of private areas that could hurt the privacy of local residents. This is against the law and the municipality directives, said the report.
Some 28% of residents polled were not aware of the existence of these cameras.
Use of surveillance cameras in the public sphere has greatly increased in the past 20 years, but there are no laws to govern their use and no public official has information on the cameras or how many of them there are in the public sphere, the report said.
None of the municipalities that the comptroller checked followed a procedure to determine if the reasons that justified placing cameras in certain places were still relevant, as they are required to do.
Protocols were not followed
Additionally, none of the local governments held public hearings before placing cameras as required by municipality directives.
In around 40 municipalities, the police have direct access to municipality cameras without the appropriate conditions for police to use these cameras being formed, said the report.