Joint Board Matter with Supervisor Foust and Supervisor Hyland

January 13, 2015

Setting a Policy for the Collection and Retention of Electronic Data

Madame Chairman:

Technology has brought to all levels of government the ability to collect and retain significant amounts and types of electronic data. Locally we see the use of license plate readers - which can be used for such beneficial tasks as locating suspected criminals or analyzing travel patterns - and tracking the location of cell phones as part of police surveillance operations.

Fairfax County uses license plate readers. Last year a local newspaper reported on the issue of police collection of cell phone location data, but the County has not publicly confirmed whether or not it possesses or uses such technology.

Technology that tracks the location of vehicles and cell phones can provide powerful benefits to law enforcement and urban planners. However, it also raises significant civil liberty concerns.  Such data could allow the government to track the daily movements of innocent residents without warrant or any showing of probable cause or public benefit.

While people may disagree on whether local government should even possess or use such technology, and if so under what rules, what I hope we can agree on today is that it is the responsibility of the Board, the elected body of Fairfax County, to set these guidelines and procedures. It should not be left to individual departments to establish their own polices, but the Board has not yet spoken on these issues.

Therefore, I move that the Board direct the County Executive to provide to the Board, within ninety days, a recommended policy which would govern the County’s use of technology that collects sensitive data as well as the use, possession and retention of the data collected.