May 08, 2008

D.C. Council Committee Cuts Funding for Mayor's Controversial Surveillance Network Proposal

D.C. Council members bypassed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in his plans to consolidate thousands of city cameras have moved to block funding for the program until it is better regulated. "That's what we're trying to do," said council member Phil Mendelson, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, which agreed last week to remove funding for the program in the fiscal 2009 budget. The Fenty administration's Video Interoperability for Public Safety program will consolidate roughly 5,200 cameras operated by District agencies into one network managed by the city's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

Panel to block camera funds, Washington Times, May 6, 2008.