Cambridge to Pilot Surveillance Cameras in Central Square

The Cambridge City Council approved a controversial pilot proposal from the Cambridge Police Department to install surveillance cameras in Central Square.

The CPD’s proposal gained attention over the summer, as local advocates raised privacy concerns. While the Council initially considered the proposal in August, Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler delayed the vote to address questions from the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union.

CPD Commissioner Christine A. Elow came before the Council late last night to advocate for increased surveillance cameras, as an additional tool alongside deployed officers and a “blue light” unit which patrols Central Square at night.

“We have been working in the police department with our community partners, working with quality of life issues, particularly in Central Square, and we have been really struggling,” Elow said. “We really wanted to explore the use of overt surveillance cameras as an additional tool to work on the safety in Central Square.”

According to CPD’s proposal, deploying cameras in Central Square would function as a test run before adding them in other locations throughout the city, including in Harvard Square.

Elow insisted that adding cameras is not a panacea, but rather an additional tool to help the CPD manage quality of life issues in the city — particularly in Central Square, where residents and city officials alike are concerned about rising crime and overdose rates.

“The cameras, as the ACLU pointed out to us, are not a fix-all,” she said. “We use these as one tool on top of our investigative techniques, with the camera, when a crime is committed to help with the follow-up.”

Sobrinho-Wheeler placed a motion to table a proposal to pilot the surveillance camera installation in Central Square, which failed by a 3-5 vote. A motion to adopt the pilot proposal then passed, with only Sobrinho-Wheeler voting in opposition.

Councilor Burham Azeem said his vote to approve the pilot program was “an easy yes.”

“At this point, everyone carries a phone that has a camera on them,” Azeem said. “There’s cameras everywhere, and I just think it’s kind of ironic that we’ve come to a place where everyone can have a camera except for when we need it.”

Councillor Marc C. McGovern said that he believes CPD’s surveillance cameras are “worth a pilot program,” emphasizing their ability to provide evidence against drug dealers who “are taking advantage” of the homeless population in Central Square.

“I don’t think this is about criminalizing homelessness — if that’s what I thought it was about, there’s no way in hell I would be supporting this,” he said. “ I agree that we have to have the bigger conversation, but I don’t want to hold this hostage to that bigger conversation.”

—Staff writer Sally E. Edwards can be reached at sally.edwards@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sallyedwards04 or on Threads @sally_edwards06.