On February 20, 2018, the Brennan Center’s Michael Price, Senior Counsel to the Liberty and National Security Program, testified before the Maryland House of Delegates Judiciary Committee in support of H.B. 578, which would establish a task force to study law enforcement surveillance technologies.
Over the past 15 years, state and local law enforcement agencies have acquired a startling array of powerful new surveillance technologies, often without public notice, debate, or oversight from elected lawmakers. Much of this technology was designed for the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and acquired through federal grant programs or private funding. As a result, state and local legislatures have been left out of important decisions about policing. It is critical for legislatures to catch up, to take stock of the surveillance technologies now in use, to ask whether they comport with our constitutional values, and to ensure sufficient safeguards for civil rights and civil liberties.
Read the full testimony here.
Testimony Before the Maryland House of Delegates in Support of H.B. 578 – Establishing Task Force to Study… by The Brennan Center for Justice on Scribd