Say No To Providence Police Sharing Campus Camera Feeds, ACLU Urges Brown University

PROVIDENCE, RI — The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has urged Brown University to refrain from sharing campus camera feeds with Providence’s Real Time Crime Center.

"While we are, of course, sympathetic to promoting safety initiatives following the recent tragedy at Brown University, we urge you to avoid a hasty reaction to the city’s request in light of the serious privacy concerns surrounding the RTCC," ACLU of Rhode Island officials said in a letter to Brown University President Christina Paxson.

Related: Brown University Spring Semester Starts In Wake Of Dec. 13 Mass Shooting

The letter was signed by Executive Director Steven Brown and Policy Associate Madalyn McGunagle, and Lily Luby and Lucy Kaplan of Brown ACLU.

The letter points out that sharing access with the police "poses a substantial risk to your students, staff, faculty, and visitors in the absence of sufficient protections for privacy and accountability."

Related: Mass Shooter Didn't 'Give A Damn About How You Judge' Him, Then Killed Himself

"For example, particularly in light of the current federal administration’s continued attacks on the right to protest at colleges and universities, we can easily envision campus footage provided to the RTCC used for the surveillance of free speech activities on campus and the targeting of 'troublemakers,'" letter says.

The letter also noted that a lawsuit was filed last year after the "Trump Administration arbitrarily began revoking the F-1 visas of students in local colleges and institutions, including Brown."

Related: He 'Cracked' Brown University Mass Shooting Case But Will He Get $50K Reward?

"Easy access to surveillance footage of students on campus can only increase the possibility of targeted actions like that by the federal government in the future," the letter said. "In addition, since the tragic shooting will be leading to the installation of even more cameras across the campus, the effect will be to provide even greater incentive to use the system for other surveillance purposes once the data is shared with the RTCC."

A gunman fired at least 44 shots in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building, killing two and wounding eight others the afternoon of Dec. 13. The Providence police and the FBI identified the shooter as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown student and Portuguese national living in Miami.

Related: Brown University Suspected Mass Shooter Found Dead By Suicide In NH Storage Unit

Neves Valente was also linked to the shooting death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro, who was found mortally wounded in his Brookline home Dec. 15, with the feds calling the connection a certainty.

Five days after the Brown University mass shooting, Neves Valente was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Salem, New Hampshire, storage unit.

Related: Brown University Unveils New Safety Plans In Wake Of Mass Shooting