Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
Purpose
This policy regulates the installation
and use of video surveillance systems for safety and security purposes in
public and semi-public areas on the Athens campus of Ohio university. This
policy does not imply nor guarantee that surveillance cameras will be monitored
in real time.
To ensure the protection of individual
privacy rights in accordance with the law, as well as to preserve academic
freedom and avoid discouraging the exercise of first amendment rights, this
policy is adopted to formalize procedures for the installation of surveillance
equipment and the handling, viewing, retention, dissemination, and destruction
of surveillance recordings.
Video surveillance will be conducted in
a professional, ethical, and legal manner. Any diversion of surveillance
records for other purposes (e.g.. surveillance of political or religious
activities) is prohibited. Under no circumstances will the contents of any
video recordings be exploited for purposes of profit or commercial publication,
nor will such recordings be publicly distributed except as may be required by
law.
(B)
Scope
(1)
Public and semi-public areas
This policy applies to video
surveillance in areas that are public or semi-public, in which there is not a
reasonable expectation of privacy. It is important to note that just because an
area may have restricted access, that alone does not create an expectation of
privacy (e.g. residence hall lounges, computer labs, classrooms limited to
students of a particular college or class, etc.)
(2)
Private
areas
Areas on campus that have a reasonable
expectation of privacy, including classrooms, are prohibited from being subject
to video surveillance under this policy. Generally, private areas on campus
include, but are not limited to. classrooms, private living quarters,
residential hallways, restrooms. single occupancy offices, etc. Normally, video
cameras in areas that could potentially capture both private areas (e.g. a
window into a residence hall room) and public or semi-public areas should be
installed such that the camera's view does not include the private area. If
reasonable measures cannot be taken to exclude private areas from a camera's
view, the private areas will be digitally blocked from view on both live and
recorded images.
(3)
Exceptions
The following uses of video
surveillance are exempt from this policy:
(a)
Criminal
investigations conducted by or in conjunction with the Ohio university police
department;
(b)
Academic instruction or feedback, as long as the video
is not set to continuously record;
(c)
Public web
streaming video in areas that do not have a "reasonable expectation of privacy"
and are not recorded (e.g., on the Ohio university website);
(d)
Recording of
public performance events for public entertainment (e.g., athletic events,
plays, lectures, etc.).
(C)
Procedures
(1)
OUPD has the
exclusive authority to administer this policy.
(2)
All installations
of video surveillance systems covered by this policy will use only the
enterprise video surveillance solution chosen by the
university.
(3)
OUPD, along with the assistance of design and
construction and the office of information technology will oversee the
installation of approved video surveillance equipment.
(4)
Video
surveillance footage will only be recorded to the university's centralized
server.
(5)
Appropriate signage will be placed at all locations
under video surveillance. Signage will state, "This Area is Subject to Video
Surveillance." Signage will also include contact information for the Ohio
university police department.
(6)
Units responsible
for the space in which a video surveillance system is being proposed
will:
(a)
Draft
a written request to the chief of police, or their designee, which
includes:
(i)
Draft drawings which show the proposed location and
direction of each camera;
(ii)
An employee who
will be the unit's point of contact for the system; and
(iii)
Approval from
the appropriate administrative head of the unit seeking the
installation.
(b)
The chief of police, or their designee, will review the
request for conformity to this policy and approve or deny the request.
(i)
If the chief of
police, or their designee, intends to approve a request for video surveillance
installation, he or she shall notify the chairs of the administrative,
classified, faculty, and student senates and provide them with a copy of the
approved request.
(a)
The chairs of the senates will have fourteen (14)
calendar days from receipt of the notification of pending approval to object to
the installation.
(b)
Objections will be filed with the vice president, or
their designee, of the division in which the proposed installation falls and
copied to the chief of police or their designee.
(c)
The appropriate
vice president shall have final authority to resolve objections and notify the
chief of police, or their designee, and the chair of the objecting senate of
their decision.
(d)
Once final approval is received, or if no objection is
filed within fourteen
calendar days of notification to the chairs of the
senates, the chief of police, or their designee, shall notify the proposing
unit of the installation's approval and the project may
proceed.
(ii)
If disapproved (either by the chief of police, or their
designee, or as a result of an objection sustained by a vice president), the
chief of police, or their designee, will notify the proposing unit and may
include recommendations to bring the proposal into alignment with the policy.
The unit may elect to make those changes and resubmit the proposal to the chief
of police, or their designee.
(D)
Use of video
surveillance systems
(1)
Video surveillance of public and semi-public areas will
be conducted in a manner consistent with all university policies. Any perceived
violation of university policy shall be resolved in accordance with applicable
dispute resolution processes outlined elsewhere in university
policy.
(2)
OUPD will oversee access to the university's video
surveillance system and to all video cameras individually. Real-time and
historical video access will be restricted. At no time will access be granted
to the system for the purpose of searching for unprompted evidence of
wrongdoing.
(3)
No video recordings will be duplicated without
permission from OUPD.
(4)
Real-time video access
(a)
Any individual or
department with a need to view video in real time will submit the form "Request
for Real Time Video Access" to the chief of police, or their
designee.
(b)
The chief of police, or their designee, will review the
request for a legitimate operational need and will approve or deny the request.
If approved, OUPD will ensure access is granted.
(5)
Historical
recordings
(a)
Agencies outside of Ohio university may need to obtain a
subpoena for video recordings, as determined by the office of legal
affairs.
(b)
Historical recordings will be made available to Ohio
university officials conducting bona fide investigations. The investigating
official will submit the form "Request for Historical Video Access" to the
chief of police, or their designee.
(c)
The chief of
police, or their designee, will review the request for conformity to this
policy and will approve or deny the request as appropriate. If approved, the
chief of police, or their designee, will ensure the investigating official
obtains access to the recordings.
(i)
Copies of recordings determined to have no
administrative value will be returned to OUPD for destruction.
(ii)
Copies of
recordings determined to have administrative value will be retained by the
investigating department, subject to their retention schedule
policy.
(d)
All Ohio university police officers and communications
officers will have permanent access to all video surveillance systems, both in
real time and historically.
(6)
Any person who
has been granted access to the video surveillance system will:
(a)
not allow their access to be used by another person;
and
(b)
use their access only for the purpose of their job
duties.
(E)
Disposition of
records
(1)
No
attempt will be made to alter any part of any video recording. Access to video
surveillance systems will be configured to prevent tampering with
records.
(2)
Ohio university police department will determine the
minimum standards for video recording.
(3)
Video
surveillance records on the central server, when recording at minimum
standards, will be stored for a period not less than thirty days and will then
promptly be deleted.
(4)
If an operational need arises for a camera(s) to record
above the minimum standard, the unit's point of contact or investigating
official should submit a request in writing to the chief of police, or their
designee, explaining the need and duration for the change. Such requests will
be approved or denied by the chief of police or designee. Due to data storage
limitations, video recordings for the approved camera(s) may not be available
for the full thirty day retention period. The chief of police or designee will
ensure that the affected cameras are restored to minimum standards as soon as
practical.
(F)
Transition of legacy video surveillance systems
(1)
Legacy video
surveillance systems refer to those video surveillance systems that are subject
to this policy, but were installed prior to the effective date of this policy
and were not connected to the enterprise video surveillance system solution
utilized by the university on the effective date of this
policy.
(2)
Legacy video surveillance systems will be transitioned
to the university's enterprise video surveillance system by December 31.2018.
Video surveillance systems that are not transitioned to the enterprise video
surveillance system by December 31. 2018 will be deactivated.
(3)
Once
transitioned, all video surveillance systems will be administrated, maintained,
and operated in accordance with this policy.
The version of this rule that includes
live links to associated resources is online at
https://www.ohio.edu/policy2/44-119.html
