Two civil liberties groups went before the Austin Human Rights Commission on Monday to present recommendations for public oversight of the new Austin Regional Intelligence Center.
Advocacy groups are expressing concerns over the center’s privacy policy, which the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said contains vague definitions of what information will be collected and how it will be retained and disseminated.
Matt Simpson, the union’s policy strategist, said the group would like to see the finalization of the privacy policy as well as the memorandums of understanding and inter-local agreements between the agencies involved. He said the agreements between the separate agencies and the larger privacy policy must be unified to ensure everyone is operating without conflict.
The center allows law enforcement agencies to view suspect and crime information to avoid unintentional investigative overlap among agencies. Similar fusion centers that serve law enforcement agencies can be found nationwide.
They also seek the formation of an independent group that would perform audits of searches done by the center to ensure the validity of information and the methods used to collect it. The group also wants to protect juvenile offender or victim names.
Simpson said following through with the group’s recommendations would show the center is responsive to citizens’ concerns about civil liberty.
“Once the fusion center is created, it can be very difficult to backtrack and create policies.
We are right now new to this in some ways,” Simpson said.
David Carter, Austin Police Department’s chief of staff, will oversee the center and coordinate criminal information from the Austin, Round Rock and UT police departments, as well as the Travis, Hays and Williamson County sheriff offices and smaller agencies. It will be funded initially by U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants and will then become self-sustaining, using personnel already within APD’s budget.
“It is really important for law enforcement to be able to share information in a timely fashion, because when you share information, you can solve crimes quicker and, in some cases, prevent another serial offense from happening,” Carter said.
Carter said Central Texas agencies possess large amounts of lawfully collected information, but separate information systems hinder the sharing of information.
The union filed an open records request for the center’s privacy policy in August, and the city responded by asking the Texas attorney general if some of the information could be exempt from public disclosure. After discussions with APD, the privacy policy was released in September and the union sent in their recommendations to APD soon after.
“If you start to go above and beyond the lawful means of data information collection, we are well on our way down a slippery slope where there is no return,” said Chuck Young, founder and treasurer of the civil liberties group Texans for Accountable Government.
Young said he was most concerned about the redaction of information within the database and the lack of disclosure of the center’s multiple memorandums of understanding with information providers.
“[The ACLU wants] a removal policy that removes personally identifiable information that is not criminal — witness names,” Simpson said.
Simpson said the anti-discrimination clause of the policy should be strengthened in light of mistakes committed by other fusion centers. He noted Collin County’s North Central Texas Fusion Center, which sent a bulletin in February telling law enforcement officials to report the activities of lobbying groups, Muslim civil rights organizations and anti-war protest groups.
“The information that we are analyzing actually has criminal [justification]. It’s about people that are suspected of committing crimes,” Carter said. “It’s not based on somebody’s political affiliation or religious affiliation.”
Carter said analysts will use data collection methods available on the public domain, including Google searches and, if necessary, will request subpoenas for more sensitive information. He said the center will adhere to the normal APD practice of not releasing information that needs to be protected during investigative or court proceedings.
Information that could reveal the identity of a juvenile offender or victim will not be released, Carter said.
The leaders of the fusion center will answer to the Public Safety Commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Public Safety. Simpson proposed that the commission should contain a sub-committee made up of community members and members of civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Texas Impact and Texans for Accountable Government.
Carter said that the Public Safety Commission will come into existence Dec. 10 and will comply with the union’s wishes of creating a sub-committee. He said the center is tentatively scheduled to begin operation February 2010.
