Nashville, TN

Community Safety Network

Notable legislative fights and key events related to anti-surveillance & community safety organizing in Nashville

2017

Then Metro Nashville council member Dave Rosenberg sponsors and passes Metro Nashville’s Surveillance Ordinance (BL2017-646). (2) “Surveillance technology” shall mean any electronic surveillance device, hardware, or software that is capable of collecting, capturing, recording, retaining, processing, intercepting, analyzing, monitoring, or sharing audio, visual, digital, location, thermal, biometric, or similar information or communications specifically associated with, or capable of being associated with, any specific individual or group; or any system, device, or vehicle that is equipped with an electronic surveillance device, hardware, or software. -Surveillance Ordinance, 2017

2021

Multiple pieces of legislation surrounding the use of LPRs in Nashville are filed with Metro Council.

Rosenberg says the use of license plate reading technology (ALPRs) could open the floodgates to surveillance by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among other agencies.

September 15th, 2022

MNPD enters into an unauthorized and illegal contract with Fusus, a surveillance technology company

January 23rd, 2023

ALPR pilot program begins

January 23rd - February 23rd

Camera installation, training, and workflow for LPR program is finalized.

February 23rd, 2023

LPRs in pilot program go live.

February 27th, 2023

LPR program stops due to signage issue.

March 3rd, 2023

Signage is installed for LPR pilot program.

March 6th, 2023

LPR pilot program restarts.

July 22nd, 2023

MNPD ends LPR pilot program.

August 2023

COB produces report showing pilot LPRs were disproportionately placed in Black, brown, and poor neighborhoods.

August 2023

Resolution approving the use of Fusus appears on Metro Council agenda for the first time. Activists catch this and report it to the Community Oversight Board (COB). COB advocates for council to remove this from their agenda. Fusus legislation is pulled from council agenda.

August 2023

Metro Council votes on the full implementation of the LPR program after 6 month pilot program.

RS2023-2342 passes and allows for the implementation of a full LPR program. Funding for said program is not yet allocated at this time though

January 2024

Fusus returns on Metro Council agenda under RS2024-158. COB releases executive summary on RS2024-158.

A group of local organizers with experience fighting surveillance tech (who will eventually form Nashville Community Safety Network) run a social media campaign alongside other local organizations to get people to turn out against Fusus and expose its illegal implementation.

February 4th, 2024

Mayor O’Connell’s administration pulls Fusus (RS2024-158) from the Metro Council agenda and announces “the cameras are off”

November 2024

Fusus returns on the Metro Council agenda (RS2024-792) and a public hearing takes place on November 19th.

We organize locally to turn people out to the public hearing, develop a landing and resource page, run an education and media campaign, and create a petition for organizations to sign on in opposition of Fusus. Nearly 60 local organizations and over 700 individuals sign onto our petition. Groups include multiple faith congregations, civil rights organizations, political organizing groups and other organizations that helped Mayor O’Connell and many council members (some of whom were now in support of Fusus) get elected.

December 2024

Fusus resolution fails by one vote (20 for: 18 against, 21 votes were needed for it to pass)

January 2025

CM Horton files BL2025-690 which creates “guardrails”, attempting to add protections and parameters around surveillance technology.

We advocate against this bill, as it provides a false sense of safety and does not actually provide any meaningful protections from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. We cannot regulate surveillance technology, an extension of policing, that is weaponized to disproportionately harm BIPOC, queer, unhoused, and other oppressed groups of people. Despite our efforts, the legislation passes in March 2025.

November 2025

The day before Thanksgiving weekend, local news announces Mayor O’Connell’s collaboration with the nonprofit entity that runs our Central Business Improvement District (CBID), The Nashville Downtown Partnership (NDP) to accept a state grant of $15 million for “downtown public safety”. The mayor’s office drafts a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining the ways in which this grant will be spent by the NDP.

This grant was initiated from federal money that was allocated for state grants for downtown public safety dollars to be administered by business improvement districts (BIDs) in TN in 2025. This same grant pays for National Guard deployment and occupation in Memphis.

Dave Rosenberg, now with the mayor’s office, leads this push for the purchasing of additional surveillance equipment The MOU details the administration’s desire to purchase LeoSight, FiveCast, updated cameras, an armored rescue vehicle (SWAT truck), a mobile command post, a tactical support post, and a downtown “tech center” - all to be purchased by NDP and donated to MNPD to use. Record requests reveal that NDP asked for ALPRs to be purchased with this grant.

January 7th, 2026

Mayor O’Connell reports to The Banner:

  • Violent offenses are down nearly 14% from 2024
  • Property crime decreased nearly 12%
  • Homicides at their lowest level in 10 years
  • Robberies and burglaries at levels last seen in 1960s
  • 2025 saw a 27.5% lower homicide rate compared to 2024

January 9th, 2026

The Mayor’s office and NDP scrap the MOU and move forward with four individual pieces of legislation outlining the items they want to purchase with the downtown safety grant, which will be donated to MNPD, including:

January 20th, 2026

RS2026-1736, 1734, and 1733 pass in Metro Council. A public hearing is held on RS2026-1735 (cameras) and this item fails to secure the votes needed.

April 3rd, 2026

Mayor O’Connell reports to local news outlets that overall, crime in Nashville is down 20% so far this year, and:

  • Nashville is seeing double digit decreases in violent crime (-18%), property crimes (-20%), and car thefts (-40%).
  • Burglaries are at the lowest levels since the 1960s
  • Across the city, certain precincts are seeing reductions as high as 60% in some areas of crime

April 2026

Due to continued public pressure and multiple failed attempts at passing other surveillance tech, Metro still has not approved funding or brought a contract for ALPR since the end of the pilot program in 2023.

At the beginning of budget season, MNPD requests $2.9 million for a fully implemented ALPR program. The mayor does not include this in his budget due to council by May 1st. MNPD does not include this ask in their requests of amendments from council members.

Mayor states in local media that we don’t have a local legislative environment to support surveillance tech!

April 24th, 2026

Local media reportsthat MNPD has obtained an FAA waiver as a first step in launching a Drone as First Responder (DFR) program.

May 22nd, 2026

MNPD launches Drone as First Responder pilot program, covering a 2 mile radius of Madison. A specific portion of Madison is cut out from the radius. This small area is District 7, which is represented by CM Emily Benedict, who has a history of voicing concerns about and voting against the expansion of surveillance technology

No public hearing or Metro Council approval sought prior to the initiation of this pilot. Beginning this trial DFR program without these elements is yet another instance of illegal implementation of surveillance technology in Nashville.

June 2nd, 2026

CBID budget fails by one vote (RS2026-1963). CM Huffman, who was in support of the CBID budget, attempts to start a physical altercation on the council floor during a fit of rage at the budget’s failing.

The failure of this budget passing on its first vote is due to public pressure calling out NDPs misuse of public dollars to:

  • Arrest people experiencing homelessness for camping on state property with a felony
  • Improperly store fuel in the Metro-owned parking garage that then exploded and caused the downtown library’s nine month closure
  • Fail to seek council approval of their budget since 2004
  • Remove benches on Korean Veterans Blvd because people experiencing homelessness were utilizing them
  • Prohibit the implementation of pedestrian and bike safety infrastructure within the CBID

June 16th, 2026

CBID brings their budget back with no changes besides altering their budget amount by $1. The budget passes (RS2026-2033).

June 2026

The Nashville Police + Public Safety Alliance hires Mayor Cooper’s former policy director John Buntin to write a report about Nashville’s adoption of surveillance technology (or lack thereof) in relation to other cities.

The Tennessean discusses the report favorably in a feature on May 19th.

The report is discussed in Metro Council prior to any information being released to the public.

On June 29th, Metro Human Relations Commission discusses this report and publishes their own response to the Alliance’s report, highlighting:

  • Bias in the report’s definition of public safety itself and those involved in defining it
  • Reliance on flawed statistics and police-driven narratives
  • Lack of incorporation of voices of residents and communities most affected by both violence and public safety interventions
  • Narrow conception of public safety shaped primarily by institutional stakeholders seeking to influence public spending and policy

July 14th, 2026

The first arrest is made by MNPD with the use of drones in Madison under their pilot program

July 2026

The Police and Public Safety Alliance back out of a WPLN show on July 16th about their report and cancel a Vanderbilt event featuring a panel where the report was also to be discussed, citing disagreements on panel participants.