Solvang City Council to revisit rules on AI-enabled surveillance cameras at park, across downtown

Elected leaders in Solvang plan to take another look at how the city surveils its 5,000 residents and millions of annual visitors. A year after adopting it, the City Council at its regular Monday night meeting will revisit a policy that governs how officials collect, access and use data from six Verkada Inc. cameras installed and serviced by XIT Solutions—as well as three more not yet deployed. The policy review—and potential revisions—come amid a three-year, $187,889 pilot of the cameras. And it comes amid heightened public scrutiny of Verkada, Flock Safety and similar surveillance systems that have proliferated across Santa Barbara County and the United States. I d like to bring the policy around the use of those cameras back for a more thorough review to strengthen that policy, Councilmember Elizabeth Orona recently told her council colleagues and Solvang city staff members. Orona made that request on Sept. 14, adding the policy might not adequately address who can acc