What’s the fuss with Fusus?

Somebody’s eyes are watching you.

Those eyes belong to a Metro Nashville police officer, who is viewing camera footage on a cloud service called Fusus. A business you frequent or a private residence in your neighborhood may have voluntarily agreed to share their camera footage with MNPD via this platform. In the event of an emergency or violent crime, MNPD can tap in and hopefully catch the perpetrator in action. This all sounds great. Who among us doesn’t love less crime?

The problem is that we don’t actually know that the implementation of Fusus will lower crime in our city. MNPD is seeking a renewed contract to pilot this technology. Nashville’s Metro Council will vote on Feb. 6 whether or not to approve this contract. Before that, we’ll dive into what exactly this contract could mean for Nashville.

This episode was produced by Elizabeth Burton. Special thanks to Councilmember Courtney Johnston, Cynthia Abrams, and Nicole Williams.

Guests

• Councilmember Delishia Porterfield, Councilmember-at-large and Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee
• Reverend Davie Tucker, Executive Director of the Human Relations Commission Staff

Update: On Monday, Councilmember Delishia Porterfield tweeted that MNPD will no longer be using Fusus. The cloud-based platform will not be in use until the contract between MNPD and Fusus is changed to “remove all surveillance and camera access.” For more, read WPLN Metro reporter Cynthia Abrams’ update.