Cambridge Rejects Surveillance Plan

Cambridge is turning down money from the Homeland Security Department to set up eight surveillance cameras across the city.

WBUR's Fred Thys reports.

THYS: Sometime between four to six years ago, Cambridge secretly applied for the money together with eight other communities, including Brookline and Boston.

Nancy Murray is with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

MURRAY: A lot is happening in terms of networks being created, networks of domestic surveillance, without real accountability, and certainly with no transparency, 'cause it's all very secretive.

THYS: The money went to the Office of Emergency Preparedness in Boston, where the cameras would be monitored.

Brookline has installed the cameras for a one-year trial period. But when Cambridge City Councilors heard about the project, they turned the money down.

The ACLU says it's the first time any city in the country has refused for surveillance cameras.

For WBUR, I'm Fred Thys.