By the end of 2008, more than 300 middle and high schools in 130 buildings will be equipped with some 6,000 cameras belonging to the Department of Education's $120 million Internet Protocol Digital Video Surveillance (IPDVS) system, intended to help reduce violence in public schools. Although school officials consider IPDVS a success, problems have cropped up with both its technical workings and people's ability to gain access to the footage. Meanwhile, oversight from City Council, which passed a law amending the City Charter to authorize camera installation in Nov. 2004, has been uneven at best. A mandated review by DOE and the NYPD – which are jointly responsible for school safety – was completed in May, but City Councilman Peter F. Vallone, Jr., who chairs Council's Public Safety Committee, has not shared it with other committee members. City Councilman David Yassky, the only member of the Public Safety Committee to request the report, needed the help of Speaker Christine Quinn's staff earlier this month to obtain a copy.
Delivered to Quinn, Vallone and Councilman Robert Jackson, who chairs the Education Committee, the report outlines the state of camera installation in schools slated for IPDVS systems. A heavily redacted version of the report was obtained by City Limits via the Freedom of Information Law, with even the list of schools slated for camera installation withheld for fear of "endanger[ing] the life or safety of the children, employees, and others at the school sites," according to Elizabeth Fine, general counsel to the City Council. However, the list is available on pages C-54 to C-58 of the DOE's 2005-2009 Five-Year Capital Plan. It's unclear what the DOE-NYPD review contains, as city officials say there has been no thorough evaluation or analysis of the camera system's effectiveness or impact on school security.
School safety has been a flashpoint of late in New York City, as evidenced by an all-day City Council hearing on the issue this fall. Suspensions and misconduct arrests of students are rising, and there is a steady volume of complaints against school safety agents. Though the Mayor's Management Report issued in September says school violence declined in fiscal year 2007, an audit by the Comptroller the same month accused DOE of underreporting school violence. DOE maintains the audit is out of date.
Local lawmakers, advocates, and civil libertarians see an explicit need for comprehensive oversight policies for the deployment and use of cameras in a school setting. Education Chair Jackson, who is skeptical about camera usage and supports their use only in select schools with a demonstrated need, is aware of difficulties faced by parents trying to obtain video and advocates greater supervision. "There needs to be greater transparency and clear rules governing the handling, storage, and access to footage," Jackson said. "Also, there needs to be accountability for holding the data recorded by IPDVS."
IPDVS was designed by DOE and the School Construction Authority in 2003 as a "major initiative to provide schools with state-of-the-art video surveillance systems," according to the redacted oversight report, and first implemented in July 2004 – months before the project was actually given the green light by Council. The system is funded by $119.9 million from the DOE's five-year capital plan for fiscal years 2005-2009, with an additional $8 million provided by City Council and the borough presidents. Schools with existing camera systems were to be retrofitted, and standard specifications for all new schools included plans for video monitoring.
