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Date: 2/16/2022
NORTHAMPTON – During a meeting on Feb. 8, the City Council Finance Committee decided that they need more time to develop a social responsibility rubric regarding a proposal to upgrade the Northampton Police Department’s dashboard cameras.
The City Council conducted a two-hour discussion during their Feb. 3 meeting about a plan to upgrade the department’s dashboard cameras through a five-year contract with Motorola Solutions, one of the largest police tech corporations in the world. Public outcry about the company’s history of contracting with federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and the potential for human rights issues caused the council to task the Finance Committee with developing a set of social responsibility standards that potential vendors must meet before contracting with the city.
When the Finance Committee met, City Solicitor Alan Seewald said Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has the authorization to sign a three-year dashcam contract with Motorola “tomorrow” if she wanted to, but the current proposed five-year contract would need to be approved by the City Council. If a five-year contract were approved, then the city would create the contract, and terms would then be negotiated. Seewald also said that the state Legislature would likely need to act first on approving a social responsibility rubric, rather than the city creating some ordinance. Essentially, the city would need to approve a home rule petition asking the Legislature’s permission to change procurement standards.
“We’re going to have to be very specific about what the criteria in this rubric that we’ve been calling ‘social responsibility’ are,” said Seewald. “The Legislature is not simply going to pass a generic social responsibility requirement, so we’re going to have to figure out what exactly social responsibility means and see whether the legislature will pass it.”
During the Finance Committee meeting, many members of the public expressed concern about Motorola’s history, as well as the negative connotations that come with using this type of technology.
“This tech exists to put people in cages … that’s why the police want this,” said Dana Goldblatt, a Northampton defense attorney. “There’s no good police surveillance going on.”
Ashwin Ravikumar, an activist and assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, emphasized that there is a consensus among scholars and organizations like Black Lives Matter, as well as other Indigenous organizations that this technology is “never used to help anyone,” and because of this, the council will never find a socially responsible vendor.
“There really is an overwhelming consensus that cameras don’t help, that cameras do not actually hold police accountable,” said Ravikumar.
According to Joe Cook, the city’s chief procurement officer, Massachusetts General Law Chapter 30B forces the city to put any contract worth more than $50,000 out to bid through an advertising process. According to the law, the city advertises competition by issuing an invitation for bids or request for proposals. In the bid process, the city would award the contract to the qualified bidder who meets the city’s specifications and offers the best price. After going through seven months of this process, the city chose Motorola for a contract that would be worth $133,000.
Cook inquired with the attorney general’s office and found that the city can base its criteria around the vendor’s skill, ability and integrity. Cook discovered, however, that the integrity portion is based on the company’s business practices, rather than on the larger sense of “being a world citizen.”
Because the state governs the bidding process, the city cannot consider factors like social responsibility unless the it goes to state Legislature and receives permission to base their decision off a special rubric.
According to Cook, the city also has the option of not going out to bid and instead purchasing an existing state contract or cooperative contract. In this scenario, no bidding would be required.
According to Antonio Pagan, the chief information officer for the city’s Information Technology (IT) Department, the city always has a conversation about data sharing, data ownership, and data privacy when dealing with data companies.
“We want to be able to confirm with all of the constituents that we own the data,” said Pagan, regarding the city’s desired contract with Motorola. “We want to establish on any contract that the city owns the data,” which refers to any data captured by the city.
Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LaBarge opined during the meeting that this type of technology would go against the idea of Northampton being a sanctuary city. “I don’t know which way I’m going to turn, because I don’t feel safe with this company,” said LaBarge, who also added that she and other councilors have been “inundated” with calls and emails about the issue. LaBarge said she is grateful for the public input.
Ultimately, the Finance Committee voted down Council President Jim Nash’s suggestion that they issue a neutral recommendation to the full City Council. Rather, the committee will recommend that the city seeks more public input on whether or not police surveillance is even necessary in Northampton before considering a decision on a contract.
“This is another issue, and it really needs some community engagement and some deep discussion,” said Ward 7 Councilor Rachel Maiore, referring to the separate issue of police surveillance as a broader topic.
The IT Department wanted a contract initiated by March 1, but there is currently no firm deadline for completing this process. The issue will be discussed at the next council meeting on Feb. 17. Reminder Publishing will have more on the topic.