The city will spend about $1.5 million to install video cameras in key parts of Oahu to bolster security for visiting dignitaries here for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in November.
The money will be used to buy and install 34 cameras in Waikiki, downtown Honolulu and Ko Olina in time for the arrival of the leaders of 21 APEC-member countries the weekend of Nov. 11, city officials told members of the City Council Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs Committee Tuesday morning.
About $175,000 of the cost is coming from the Hawaii Tourism Authority while about $305,000 is part of a grant from the Department of Homeland Security with the remaining money paid by various city agencies.
Committee members raised questions about how the cameras may affect free speech and civil liberties during the conference but nonetheless advanced a resolution approving the use of the cameras. The measure will have to be cleared by the full Council.
A representative for the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union raised a warning about police use of surveillance cameras.
After the conference, most of the cameras will be turned over for use as traffic-monitoring cameras by the city Department of Transportation Services, said Gordon Bruce, city chief information officer.
The resolution also would clear the way for the Honolulu Police Department to monitor about 200 existing traffic cameras on the island for security reasons.
HPD Assistant Chief Greg Lefcourt said the cameras will help law enforcement agencies determine where security personnel should be placed during the conference.
"When the economic leaders are on their way from one location to the other, we can monitor their pathway to make sure there’s no one crossing in the middle," Lefcourt said.
The cameras are also a good deterrent against crime, he said. "When people know there’s an area that’s being monitored, they’re less likely to do criminal activity."
For a number of years, the city has had 26 mounted security cameras on the island designed to deter crime; 20 in downtown and Chinatown, six in Waikiki.
Bruce said once APEC is over, all but six of the 34 new cameras will be turned over to the Department of Transportation Services for traffic-monitoring.
Both Council Safety Chairwoman Tulsi Gabbard and Councilman Stanley Chang said they want to see a list of where the new cameras are to be placed.
Bruce said a list would be given to the Council by the end of the week.
Vanessa Chong, executive director of ACLU of Hawai‘i, said taxpayer money could be better used by putting more law enforcement officers on the street, improving street lighting and bolstering community policing.
Chong said the ACLU hopes the use of the cameras "are temporary, narrowly tailored and comply with the Constitution. The ACLU is very concerned about government abuse of surveillance technology such as using such technology as a fishing expedition on law-abiding individuals in order to find a guilty few or intimidating law-abiding individuals who are exercising their First Amendment right to protest or assemble."
