Request Submitted To: Boston Office of Emergency Management

Category: Surveillance

Year Filed: 2013

Background

In December 2010, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed a public records request for information about the City of Boston’s surveillance camera network. The request was filed to the Metro Boston Office of Homeland Security, Office of Emergency Management, at the Mayor’s office in Boston. This office is responsible for managing Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant funding from the federal Department of Homeland Security and distributing it throughout the metropolitan region.

The documents we received sketch out the contours of the networked surveillance camera system operating throughout nine cities in the Boston metropolitan area: Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Revere, Quincy, Somerville, and Winthrop.